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(Malaysian Mirror) Finally, after months of intense and divisive debate in the media, Deputy Prime Minister cum Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has announced that the teaching of math and science in the English language will be scrapped by 2012, thus ending a controversial policy initiated by the former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 2003.

It is a long-standing tradition in Malaysia that once such a major policy has been announced, it is unlikely to be changed again any time soon.

Be that as it may, the announcement of the government decision on the issue has not stopped the volatile debate on the wisdom of such a move among parents, educators, commentators and politicians. If nothing else, discussions on the subject will be raised a few notches on the mainstream and alternative media in the days ahead.

Many observers have noted that the government’s decision to revert the teaching of math and science to Bahasa Malaysia and the vernacular tongues has been a concession to the very vocal linguistic nationalists from the various ethnic communities. Indeed, education has always been one of the most contentious political issues in our country fro the last half century.

There remains the burning lingering educational question of how to improve the proficiency of the English language among our school children, to give them that competitive edge on the job and business market when they graduate from the public education system.

The current system of teaching English as a subject is no longer viable, as enlightened parents, teachers, and educators have realised. A major reform is urgently needed for the professional teaching of English as a second language.

Read more at: Teaching English – there is hope yet

Comments (17)

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written by Trueandfair, July 10, 2009 11:16:53

For those parents that are so worked-up about ENglish not being taught for Science and Maths, here is a simple tip for you: Go to any bookshop, buy some books in ENGLISH, go home, spend an hour a day and teach them !! If your children education is so important in English then you should be prepared to make some sacrifice - that is what I am doing now - GAVE UP ON THE SCHOOL A FEW YEARS BACK - when the teachers screwed up all the Physics and Chemistry concepts !!

An hour a day is not much of your time BUT to your children it will be their life and future !!

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written by apasalahku, July 10, 2009 11:22:51

don't worry by 2012 BN won't be government anymore

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written by Bigjoe99, July 10, 2009 11:48:13

No way, Najib cannot afford to look weak now after making the decision. If he loses this one, Dr. M can take him down. Its over unless Najib is gone..

And its not just that. They did not have the brains to NOT just cancel PPSMI. The fact of the matter is they looked at it all wrong in the first place. They should have taken a step back and say lets put in place good English ideas first before announcing it. But no they could not because of small minds. Its those small minds that will in the end guarantee PPSMI is dead.

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written by asguard, July 10, 2009 11:51:01

The whole issue boil down to politicking.... not for future but for ones...popularity

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written by khoosl11, July 10, 2009 11:58:18

I just dont understand this government. It seems to me..they are like 'lalang', keep on swing aimlessly. What I know is that it is not the students who wants in in ENglish or Bahasa. It isnot the parents who wants it is English or Bahasa. However, the surprise thing is that, our so-called TEACHERS CANNOT TEACH THESE SUBJECTS IN ENGLISH...they just cannot prounence the word. Well, I not saying ALL TEACHERS WHO TEACHES MATHS or SCIENCE..but a majority of them. The government have sent them for training, giving them extra allowance (which to this day I dont knw why) but yet, they screw up. I have nothing against Bahasa..but it is just that some of these terms..they are in ENGLISH. How is it that it need to be translate in Bahasa? Well, there is no use is complaining. Looks like the government is very determine in their decision eventhough if I remember correctly, there was a poll sometime back and majority of it says they prefer ENGLISH. Well, let us all pray for our kids...

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written by tino_chan1988, July 10, 2009 12:18:38

"The painting is ........... on the wall. (Fill in the blank English test question in one of the govt school)

The student replied with a sensible "hanging", but was marked (x) by the teacher and was duly corrected by the teacher that it should be 'placing'!

This is no make up story but a real case of poor understanding and command of the English language in the part of our current crop of teachers. How does the govt expect the quality of performance and academic achievement be improved wih such poor quality of teachers?

The problem lies with the fallacy education system and politicians who has other interests ad agendas than to see Malaysia going forward towards a competitive nation.

At the rate we are going, in no time we would would produced thousands of 'jaguh kampung' graduates.

Malaysia Truly Boleh!

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written by Diz, July 10, 2009 12:19:13

Tinker, tinker, tinker... the bane of the education system. The original move to switch was bonkers and totally unsupported by any serious planning or thinking. The most serious impediments both to educational progress and nation building generally (vernacular schools and the islamisation/malayanisation of the gov't sector) are sacrosanct, so how to move forward?

But it is very good news for the private and international education sector - just wait for the flood of middle class parents checking out enrollments. The reality is that these kids won't be affected because they already have plenty of English exposure (I put my own kids in gov't primary so they could master Malay... so now they've got two languages). The reversal of policy is a statement of intent to the effect that, "We want to keep the masses in a state of comfortable ignorance - much easier to control that way."

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written by Wisdom above, July 10, 2009 12:51:56

This English Language issue will surely confirm the demise of the BeEnd ERA ?

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written by peace lover, July 10, 2009 13:14:05

whatever the decision may be, students should not be the one that are put to suffer. WHAT ARE THE TRANSITION PLANS FOR THE CURRENT BATCHES WHO HAVE BEEN STUDYING BOTH SUBJECTS IN ENGLISH??? EXAMPLE THE CURRENT YEAR 3 BATCHES; BY 2012 THEY WOULD BE IN FORM ONE. FOR 6 YEARS, THEY HAVE BEEN STUDYING THE SUBJECTS IN ENGLISH, THEN IN 2012, JUST CHUCK THE BUKU TEKS SAINS AND MATEMATIK (IN BM) TO THEM????? IS THAT IT???? HOW DO YOU WANT THE RAKYAT TO AGREE WITH YOU, MR EDUCATION MINISTER????? IF YOU ARE CAREFUL AND CARING ENOUGH, PLEASE UTILIZE MORE OF YOUR BRAIN LAH...... ALL MY 3 KIDS ARE GOING TO SUFFER. THERE ARE LOTS MORE OUT THERE???? ARE YOU HELPING THEM OR KILLING THEM????? ANSWER ME LAH.....

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written by NEP, July 10, 2009 13:43:15

Let's do pole here. Do you agree Science and Maths teach in English? ***** "agree" or "disagree".

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written by jaz, July 10, 2009 15:04:02

I totally agree, homeschooling is the only method that can save our children nowadays. I wouldn't be here today if my mother did not beat the English into me (as a child) If I sit pretty and let the gov decide what is best for me, I assure you I would not be who I am today.

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written by quietguy, July 10, 2009 15:18:56

I have a suggestion on how to improve people's English - cut down on all those crappy Malay novels. Looking back, one of the reasons my English is so good is that when I was young, there were not many good Malay books available. So to satisfy my reading habit, I read a lot of English story books. Nowadays, young people prefer to read Malay books rather than English ones. I suppose there's no way we can ban people from publishing Malay books, but at the very least, the government should ensure that school libraries are stacked hugely in favour of English books rather than Malay ones.

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written by quietguy, July 10, 2009 15:20:35

Reading my post above, I think I need to qualify my sentence. It should read, "Nowadays, young Malays prefer to read Malay books rather than English ones."

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written by clarity, July 10, 2009 15:25:21

Don't kid yourself that English will improve. They have already changed the policy. The rest is just rhetoric. All these intentions to train more teachers to teach English adn designate longer hours for the subject are just excuses. Don't you think they could have implemented that a few years ago?

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written by Rainbowseahorse, July 10, 2009 15:29:58

With an Education Minister who can hardly speak English, what else can we expect of him?
To have a good command of the English language, it must have encouragement from parents themselves. The saying, "You can bring the horse to water, but you cannot make it to drink" is very apt here. The government can have all the facilities & resources in place, but if the attitude of the students & their parents are not positive, nothing much can be done to make them learn English. To them, BM is good enough for their forefathers and so BM is all they need to get by in Malaysia.
There is no easy answers here, as in all Malaysian issues, changes have to start with changing mind set from the roots...and we all know how difficult it is to change mind sets!

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written by thirdeye, July 10, 2009 22:12:20

It does not matter Muhidin cant speak English well. I am more concerned tens of thousands of Malaysians coming out from the school system will not be able to speak or write good English.

Hello, this is the only country for all of us Malaysians.We need it to be progressive for us and our kids. Screw politics.

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written by rams609, July 10, 2009 22:25:41

I was the only son in the family. Both my dad and mom do not speak nor understand a word of English. I had to tape the bottom portion of my black and white round-stand NEC television to avoid the Malay subtitles when watching the Six million dolar man, Columbo, Baretta, The Cosby show, Serpico, Hawaii-5-O, etcetra.

I forced myself to listen to the conversations.

I tape-recorded the shows onto the valuable cheap red mini-compo my dad bought me. I listened, rewound, rewound and listened until I understand all the words and learned the slangs along the way.

I am just an ordinary Malay. If I can do it, so can you.

I say teach them lessons in English.

For those who want to succeed,WILL!!!

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