==> Pls visit new site at http://malaysia-today.net/ <==

How about a variation to the approach of teaching important subjects in english.

1. Get those subjects' text materials translated to bahasa melayu and the translation costs bore by the government. Arrange them side-by-side, i.e. english-bahasa Melayu. Others can even translate them to mandarin or tamil, sponsored by private organisations.

2. Make it available in the net in PDF & HTML form, and also with audio and power points teaching aids. This way the costs is not and issue, and everyone can read them from the home computer or download them from the net to assist their learning of the subjects.

3. The government can make available "learning stations" equiped with computers and print support in all the rural areas. To help the poor students, the print costs can be partly sponsored by local political parties or organisations or subsidized.

This is just a rough idea, and can be refined to make it more effective. This will also increase the computer literacy of the population, thus achieving the learning of english, cost effectiveness, efficient distribution of learning materials and increasing ITC literacy objectives - killing four birds with one stone.

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 8

Lowering the passing marks is the stupidest decision and is taking the country backwards.

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 10

Dear Malaysians,

The art of education is to keep on growing in all aspects of life but not to keep on collecting all types of degrees. The success of a man should be based on contributions made to his people , but not on admirations received from his king.

In Malaysia, the education system is too politicalised. Thus it's too much changing but less growing.

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 4

It's all very elementary, my dear John. Just like the old days, revert back the missionary schools to English medium of instruction since we already have the National Type Chinese and Tamil schools. Why not English type too? The National schools can still carry on in full Malay medium in the cities and rural areas. This is a win win for all and we then have the diversity needed to go global. Sigh! We were all heading in the right direction for global domination until some racist dictator turned our education system upside down.

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 6

We need to go back a little to history. After May 13 in 1969, Rahman Yakub from Sarawak was the education Minister. He replaced English with Malay as a medium of instruction beginning in 1970, and from that year, students from Primary one were taught in Malay in all subjects. So, from 1983 the Malay medium students began their university education.

Mahathir was sacked by Tunku in 1969. Tun Razak brought in Mahathir and made him Education Minister in 1972, perhaps to spike Tunku, or as a reward for the May 13 conspiracy (?). Mahathir did nothing to stop Rahman Yakub’s harm on education in Malaysia.

Mahathir was PM in July 1981. He had all the power to change the education system to help students improve their English, but he did not. He cannot claim that he was not wise enough then to know the importance of English until 2002 when he directed the teaching of mathematics and science in English.

It is not wrong to let students learn the two subjects in English, but the crucial question is when to begin learning them.

The Chinese primary schools have been teaching Mathematics and science in Chinese in primary schools. Some Chinese secondary schools continued teaching these subjects in Chinese while others beginning teaching them in English starting from secondary one (year 7), or Form one. In Chung Ling High School, the medium of instruction for secondary school was English beginning in the 1950s. The students had to take Chinese language and Chinese literature for public examinations, of course. Han Chiang High School in Penang had Chinese as the medium of instruction for mathematics and science in 1950s, and the schools produced many scientists all the same.

Chung Ling in Penang proved that students who began learning the two subjects in English were able to gain direct admission to universities in USA based on school results. Chung Ling certainly produced many successful students who did not have to learn the two subjects in English from primary school.

The quarrel with the policy of teaching mathematics and science is not the use of the medium of instruction; it is the timing of introducing them. The Chinese educationists objected to teaching them in primary schools; and they would welcome it in secondary schools.

report abuse

disagree 0

agree 2