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If we believe that data speaks for itself, then could we say that it shows that the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English policy is a crushing failure not only in SJKC, but as well in SK?

By LIM MUN FAH/Translated by SOONG PHUI JEE/Sin Chew Daily

The Examination Board said earlier that more than 50% of Year Six students chose to answer Mathematics and Science UPSR papers in English. But on closer look, the report revealed by the director-general of education during the fifth roundtable meeting, there were 37.66% of national school (SK) students, 2.86% of Chinese national-type schools (SJKC) students and 62.76% of Tamil vernacular schools (SJKT) who answered in English for Science.

Then how could they say "more than 50% of Year Six students answered in English?"

The report revealed by the director-general is puzzling.

First of all, the report shows that teaching of Science and Mathematics in English policy is a failure in SJKC. The report shows that less than 3% answered in English. Instead, 96.19% answered in Chinese for Science and 98.39% for Mathematics.

If they say the data in SJKC schools is not satisfactory because the SJKC's are still implementing the bilingual teaching policy, then how about SK?

The data shows that even though SK and SJKT have both introduced teaching in English for six years, why is SK's "achievement" is not as good as SJKT's?

For the SJKT, 62.76% of pupils answered in English for Science and 89.11% for Mathematics. But for SK, only 37.66% answered in English for Science and 57.44% for Mathematics.

In particular, we should conduct an in-depth study on the data in which as high as 35.53% of SK students answered in Bahasa for Science, which is almost the amount of students (37.66%) answered in English. Meanwhile, 26.81% of SK students answered in both English and Bahasa.

If we believe that data speaks for itself, then could we say that it shows that the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English policy is a crushing failure not only in SJKC, but as well in SK?

The teaching of Science and Mathematics in English policy was implemented in a rush by former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to improve the Englsih standard. Isn't the above data enough to tell us the effectiveness of the policy?

Comments (24)

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written by batsman, December 18, 2008 16:28:58

Didn't you know? There are lies, damned lies and statistics. Also, when the will of a few suppresses the will of many, it is called a dictatorship. Malaysian children will just grow up to hate dictators. If UMNO is not finished during the next GE, it will be finished in the one after - imagine a few generations of children who hate you!

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written by educationist, December 18, 2008 16:40:03

Yes, statistics can be used to lie.
I will hazard a guess as to why nearly all pupils in SRJK(C) schools used Chinese-it's the language of instruction, English is an extra option[and a burden at that]
Why the low percentage in SK schools? For those like me who argued for a gradual implementation, these pupils would indeed be our yardstick.Again an uneducated gueess, pride in Bahasa Malaysia instilled by their teachers may be a factor.This is not to discount the effect of ill-prepared teachers teaching the subjects after a crash course of what 1 month? then 2 weeks? or what have you.We must remember these teachers had their education and training in Bahasa Malaysia.
This makes SRJK(T) pupils statistics understandable - they have no baggage of linguistic pride so dominant in SRJK(C) and SK schools.
where will we go?
I can only hope English at least in the secondary & tertiary level will be continued.

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written by mountainking, December 18, 2008 16:45:27

the effort is no doubt noble but once again, the teachers can't even speak normal english, how to teach math and science in english?

first, send all the teachers for proper training and give a few years for the teachers to get used to teaching english. and the result will come a few years later.

you think education is char koay teow? can immediately see result in 3-5 years? if that is so possible, how come till today, so many BN MPs can't even speak normal english let alone proper english?

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written by pinsysu, December 18, 2008 16:53:18

sometimes statitics are very da far away from da truth. it's like making rojak; wat r da ingredients u wanna dump in; how spicy u wan it 2b; & who u wan it eaten; whether u wan them eating it blindfolded, etc. or the behind of da statistics is never the truth. encourage kids to read harry porter series & their master of engrish wud increase by leaps & bounds as some ppl claimed

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written by c53k, December 18, 2008 17:18:38

All these arguments about the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English r futile! Why? Bcoz it’s the legacy of TDM & no umnoputras worth his/her socks will touch it with a ten foot pole! So U want change? Get the old man to say something positive! But knowing that old man, he will rather get piss on the grave than admit he is wrong.

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written by Fart Fart Wah, December 18, 2008 17:30:40

and the result is we have a confused population of children on textbooks usage, whether to recite the prayers during the assembly or to have mixed sex classes.(today we have a whole lot of children brought up as Malays, Chinese and Indians and what not). not good for the integration and assimilation in order to ensure that we are but one country one people. and we have a quota system that is done subtly but denied wholesale that it is done with meritrocacy where more children from one race whether they are really qualified or not are given more opportunities to public universities while the rest are left by the wayside even with very good results.( 16 A's cannot get into a public U) all because of skin color.

and we have bigots who run Universities as Chancellors or Vice Chancellors who cannot speak proper English(who make shocking statements) and want to develop the University to world standards while the really qualified ones are sidelined and frozen and told to leave it or take it because they are of a different skin color.

and so the nation goes forward as as upposedly model Muslim nation that practices fairness, honesty to all its citizens when in fact every man on the street knows that this is not for a fact as POLITICIANs prefer to wear the horse blind or the tudung to close up and cove-up the real happenings while children are torn apart. (and now we have murders in the universities that target others based on skin color.)

The real statistics is this country's education system has gone to the dogs and the dogs of politics have had a field day destroying our education system to fit in with their ambitions and not what is good for the nation.

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written by New Malaysian, December 18, 2008 17:41:34

We have to first and foremost decide on policy: Should we empower our Rakyat in fluency of the English Language again? Something we had for the taking circa 1960s.

If the decision is in the affirmative, then structure a programme to achieve this: Just as it took years to produce the likes of Shit Hermit Allblur and his incohesive rantings in the international media to the Bung Mokhtar's who wouldn't dare express an opinion in English, just so it will take years to reproduce a population whose lingua franca is English again. Surely this is a project of long gestation and results even longer to fruit?

It was obviously a grave error to change the medium of instruction to Bahasa Malaysia in the first place - even though it was considered patriotic and done with national pride in mind. It is better to admit the error of our ways and correct them now than pretend as to their appropriateness and continue the rot!

We have already produced a generation of Malaysians who can't:
Express themselves in English.
Pass the basic language tests to proceed to College in the US, UK, etc.
Drop out in the middle of the University/College course for either one or both of the reasons cited above.
Be employed for the reasons cited above.
Be leaders of a multinational group.
And on and on.

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written by Tan Tan, December 18, 2008 17:43:00

Adoi...of course it is failed! If Sciences and Maths is taught in English, who ask the examination be carry out in Malays, Mandarin and English. It suppose to be only in English in order to have the effectiveness.

Try to teach in English and exam it in English and see the result in 10 years.

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written by Tan Tan, December 18, 2008 17:43:47

imagine teach BM and test me in Mandarin or BM. Of course I answer u back in Mandarin la.

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written by AsamLaksa, December 18, 2008 17:47:09

The teaching of Science and Mathematics in English policy was implemented... to improve the English standard.

This is where it all went wrong. I laughed when I first read the reason. Nonsense. You want to improve English, then teach English properly in English lessons. Now many have not quoted this reason and instead chose reason of English academic text and future economic advantage.

However I am sceptical about the analysis of this article. The statistics shows only uptake. The real effect of this policy does not correspond with uptake. There should be a better measure for effectiveness of this policy. What I am really concerned about is whether it is more effective in passing on science and maths knowledge.

The other of my concern is the potential ulterior motive of the author who writes for a Chinese daily. This is further enforced by the lack of views from the other side. I would like the real numbers of the students as well to see how the percentages come about.

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written by ahmadneil, December 18, 2008 18:16:47

Just teach in any language you like and in the end it's the Chinese and the Indians who will score better.

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written by cruzeiro, December 18, 2008 18:32:00

Only in Malaysia, with the help of Mad-Hatter, they teach English using Science & Maths! Mad -Hatter says that it isn't a problem if teachers can't speak it - they just have to dish out a few PCs and Multi-media modules and voila! we get geniuses out of his Hat!

The statistics?? Hang it - we can always cook it up gradually as the years go by to show what a great job we're doing! Just ask the Tamil schools how they produce great stats with dismal performance in ALL areas - they can show you the way!
Right now it looks like the Tamil schools have to be emulated - who says the Tamil schools are failures. they got the best stats in all fields, man!! Shame on you guys asking for their closure! (what say you temenggong?)

We really have brainiacs as politicians, educationists and Education Ministers (and also the Tamil schools, okay)!

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written by cahaya, December 18, 2008 18:47:06

The truth behind the statistics is too painful to reveal!
We cannot tell if the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English policy is a failure or not. Why not? Because the report only tells what languages the students used when they answered UPSR papers.

The Examination Board should have revealed what percentage actually passed.
What was the overall percentage pass rate for Science and Mathematics for all UPSR students, irrespective of their school?
What was the pass rates for students from each type of school?
Should we not measure success or failure of the policy in that way?

The Examination Board ought to go back to school. They gave the wrong answers.

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written by OilMan, December 18, 2008 18:48:01

It is not the language that really matters but having the right attitude to want to learn that matters. With Ketuanan Melayu and the spoon feed concepy the Malays will not be able to excel compared to the other races. Have an open playing field where everyone has the attitude of doing better then all races will be able to progress for the betterment of our country i.e. MALAYSIA.

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written by cahaya, December 18, 2008 19:56:49

What is Malaysia’s international mathematis and science ranking? Has it improved over recent years since the use of English to teach mathematics and science?

Malaysian students should regularly participate in international tests administered to students of a similar age. Only then can we tell how well Malaysian students are doing in their study of mathematics and science in comparison with other countries in Asia, or other parts of the world.

The school teachers’ ability to teach mathematics and science in English should also be assessed by a board of educators, whether local or international.

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written by Futurist, December 18, 2008 20:11:24

From day one since independence, it should have been a policy of 'why fix it if it ain't broken'. BM should have been a must pass subject, with english being the medium of instruction. Malaysia would have been a better country, instead of the rut the education system has brought upon.

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written by johntyc, December 18, 2008 21:00:07

I dont think it is a problem to learn science or mathematics in English (esp in SRJK C/T) provided that school start teaching English from Standard One and government must allow school to conduct more English lesson without having to sacrifice other lesson ie Bahasa Cina/Tamil.

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written by Krepot, December 18, 2008 21:01:46

By the time our politicians decide, we will have a country of morons running around - then again, it is already starting to happen - just look at the public service departments.

Global trade? Dream on!
They crush English, they crush Mandarin, they crush Tamil!

We'll globalise our business in Bahasa Malaysia!

Damn Fools!

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written by malgal, December 18, 2008 23:32:19

How about letting the students decide which language they prefer to be taught in and tested on?
Two different language streams for the subjects seem a democratic choice!

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written by apa jadi, December 19, 2008 01:13:07

Lies, damned lies and statistics

Statistics do not lie. Only people exploit statistics to lie.

The figure presented by the MOE did not tell us the percentage breakdown of students in various stream. Let me plug a rough figure from the air and work it out with Excel and see how the actual percentage is:

___%answered___% of _______% of total
___in English__student_____student
SK___37.66%_______70%_________26.4%
SJKC__2.86%_______25%__________0.7%
SJKT_62.76%________5%__________3.1%
Total_____________________30.2%

I think this % is not far from the truth. If the officers in MOE is so poor in Maths to cook up a lie by taking the highest of the 3 stream to say it is more than 50%, what do you expect of the Malaysian Maths and Science?

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written by apa jadi, December 19, 2008 01:42:45

written by cruzeiro

The statistics?? ...Just ask the Tamil schools how they produce great stats with dismal performance in ALL areas - they can show you the way!

Yes, you are right. All I have to do is add an extra column shown above, the % passes in each stream. It will show a better picture of the whole statistics.

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written by sydput, December 19, 2008 11:23:00

If you graduate from SK, you will not be able to speak english, but also malay. They end up speaking rojak language. Hishamuddin should promote rojak language as our lingua franca.
just listen to the malay drama being shown on TV presently, and compare that with the older malay movies during the time of P. Ramlee and you will know what mean. The whole country is crumbling in terms of education, language,healthcare and the rich are dumping the money and children overseas.

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written by densemy, December 19, 2008 16:20:32

The concept of teaching Maths and Science in English is an act of monumental stupidity of the type that could only happen in Malaysia

It was doomed to fail from the start because the motives for its introduction had nothing to do with education... The idea was simply another red herring... and Malaysian children are suffering because of their "leader's" stupidity.

How did you ever expect complex subjects like maths and sci to be understood by a non english speaking group of students taught by unwilling and often illiterate (in english) teachers

It would seem the much criticised Tamils are the only ones in this god-forsaken country with any imagination and thoughts for the future. The chinese educationists need a good boot up the arse, because they are more ignorant than even the Malays

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