FMT:
Ditching English medium schools has cost Malaysia, says activist
PAGE chair Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim points to India which retained English as its medium of instruction and now excels in mathematics and science.
Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim told Shireen Muhiudeen that, excluding Sarawak, only 7.5% of primary schools in the country teach science and mathematics in English.
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s decision to scrap English medium schools to advance the use of Bahasa Melayu in education has come at a cost to the country, an education activist said.
Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia (PAGE) chair Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim said India and Malaysia, two former British colonies, have experienced contrasting fortunes after taking divergent routes in their education policies post-independence.
Unlike India, which retained English as its medium of instruction and has gone on to excel in mathematics and science, Malaysia decided to do away with it in an attempt to forge a distinct national identity, she said.
“I think this was a great detriment to us,” Azimah said on the latest episode of “Stakeholders, with Shireen”.
Asked by host Shireen Muhiudeen about the need to take bold steps in education, Azimah said: “I think we had the opportunity to take bold steps a long time ago, and we didn’t. We’re still debating over language when we should be flying to the moon.”
She was referencing India’s remarkable feat, achieved on Aug 23 this year, when its unmanned Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft landed on the moon.
A little known fact, Azimah said, was that the death knell for English medium schools came in the wake of the May 13 racial riots.
“The education minister then, without going to the Cabinet, decided on national TV that all English medium schools would be abolished.
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s decision to scrap English medium schools to advance the use of Bahasa Melayu in education has come at a cost to the country, an education activist said.
Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia (PAGE) chair Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim said India and Malaysia, two former British colonies, have experienced contrasting fortunes after taking divergent routes in their education policies post-independence.
Unlike India, which retained English as its medium of instruction and has gone on to excel in mathematics and science, Malaysia decided to do away with it in an attempt to forge a distinct national identity, she said.
“I think this was a great detriment to us,” Azimah said on the latest episode of “Stakeholders, with Shireen”.
Asked by host Shireen Muhiudeen about the need to take bold steps in education, Azimah said: “I think we had the opportunity to take bold steps a long time ago, and we didn’t. We’re still debating over language when we should be flying to the moon.”
She was referencing India’s remarkable feat, achieved on Aug 23 this year, when its unmanned Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft landed on the moon.
A little known fact, Azimah said, was that the death knell for English medium schools came in the wake of the May 13 racial riots.
“The education minister then, without going to the Cabinet, decided on national TV that all English medium schools would be abolished.
Tun Abdul Rahman Ya’kub (1969-1970)
“So that was the start of Malay medium schools. Vernacular schools were enhanced. English medium schools died,” she said.
Azimah said in 2003, then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad introduced the teaching and learning of science and mathematics in English (PPSMI). Nine years later Muhyiddin Yassin, deputy prime minister at the time, reversed the decision.
In 2016, Muhyiddin introduced a dual language programme (DLP) allowing parents to determine which language they wanted science and mathematics to be taught to their children.
However, Azimah said the DLP uptake has been poor, with only around 1,000 schools nationwide participating. Currently, only Sarawak teaches mathematics and science entirely in English.
“(If) you take away Sarawak, there are only 348 schools, or just 7.5% of primary schools, that offer the dual language programme. And I think this is really pathetic,” she said.
Azimah said the education ministry must remove unnecessary conditions placed on schools before they are allowed to teach mathematics and science in English, including one which requires schools to meet the national average score of 50% for Bahasa Melayu.
“These 50% of schools which do not meet the DLP criteria, are already immersed in Bahasa Melayu, because they only have English language as 10% of lessons.
‘And yet they cannot meet the national average for Bahasa Melayu. The irony of it,” she said.
Despite the challenges, Azimah thinks there is still time to move in the right direction.
“I think that it’s not too late. I don’t hear people saying that the English language is a colonial language anymore so I think we’ve moved on.
“Now I think the only people who are against the dual language programme are those who just cannot open their minds to the importance of the English language,” she said.
Azimah said they may learn their lesson too late when their own children fail to get good jobs.
Azimah said in 2003, then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad introduced the teaching and learning of science and mathematics in English (PPSMI). Nine years later Muhyiddin Yassin, deputy prime minister at the time, reversed the decision.
In 2016, Muhyiddin introduced a dual language programme (DLP) allowing parents to determine which language they wanted science and mathematics to be taught to their children.
However, Azimah said the DLP uptake has been poor, with only around 1,000 schools nationwide participating. Currently, only Sarawak teaches mathematics and science entirely in English.
“(If) you take away Sarawak, there are only 348 schools, or just 7.5% of primary schools, that offer the dual language programme. And I think this is really pathetic,” she said.
Azimah said the education ministry must remove unnecessary conditions placed on schools before they are allowed to teach mathematics and science in English, including one which requires schools to meet the national average score of 50% for Bahasa Melayu.
“These 50% of schools which do not meet the DLP criteria, are already immersed in Bahasa Melayu, because they only have English language as 10% of lessons.
‘And yet they cannot meet the national average for Bahasa Melayu. The irony of it,” she said.
Despite the challenges, Azimah thinks there is still time to move in the right direction.
“I think that it’s not too late. I don’t hear people saying that the English language is a colonial language anymore so I think we’ve moved on.
“Now I think the only people who are against the dual language programme are those who just cannot open their minds to the importance of the English language,” she said.
Azimah said they may learn their lesson too late when their own children fail to get good jobs.
They should go for Chinese Medium schools instead.
ReplyDeleteIn the 21st Century, Chinese would increasingly play the role that English played as the communications medium for international exchange of commerce and science.
Don't give yr f*cking 'advice' to others.
DeleteStart with yrself, to learn some decent Mandarin so that u would just relying on anmokausai media for info.
The SCUMBAGS AND RACIST GENOCIDE ISAM TERRORIST LEADERS OF MALAYSIAL.......DITCH ENGLISH TO SEND THEIR OWN CHILDREN TO INTERNATIONA ENGLISH SCHOOLS & OVERSEAS...SO THAT MORE ISAM MOOLAYU STAY STUPID AND BE GRAB AND UBER DELIVERY GODS!...MORE OF YOUR RACIST SUPREMACIST KIND MEANS MORE DEATH AND SUFFERING IS EXPECTED...THIS IS CALLED RAHMAT ALLAH TO RACIST SUPREMACIST RACE AND RELIGION....DONATE NOT A CENT TO THESE ISAM RACE...PERIOD....
ReplyDelete