By Dr Chen Man Hin, DAP life advisor
PPMSI since its launch in 2002 to achieve a modern IT society has not made progress because of lack of purpose and unity. It was the product of the Mahathir dynasty, when PM Mahathir was pushing the idea of Bangsa Malaysia or Vision 2020.
His target of a progressive Malaysia could be achievable if the people were well versed in Mathematics and Science and they could make the country progressive like other high tech countries in Asia, like Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, S Korea and Taiwan. And as English was the language of Science and Maths, so the quickest way was to educate our youths to speak and write in English. Hence his cabinet pushed the policy of PPMSI (teaching and learning maths and science in English). That was in 2002.
The year now is 2011, what are the results? Are the students competent in English and well versed in Maths and Science?
Unemployable graduates, with deplorable English. The results have not been encouraging. It is well known that most of the university graduates are not equipped or trained to work in the commercial and business world. They have no communicating skills and could hardly write a letter in English. The businessmen coined these graduates as ‘unemployable graduates’. Shocking low ranking in Maths and Science. The TIMS study 2007 showed that Malaysian students who participated in the international Maths and Science ranking showed that they have very low scores.
| MALAYSIA | SINGAPORE | HONG KONG | S KOREA | TAIWAN | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MATHEMATICS | GRADE 4 | 0 | 41 (NO 1) | 40 | 0 | 24 |
| GRADE 8 | 2 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 22 | |
| SCIENCE | GRADE 4 | 0 | 36 | 14 | 0 | 19 |
| GRADE 8 | 3 | 25 | 10 | 17 | 24 | |
The low scores for Malaysia students in an international renowned ranking body like TIMS should not be scoffed. It is very serious and puts the whole aim of 1 Malaysia in jeopardy. Without graduates well educated in English, Maths and Science, how can Malaysia join the ranks of developed countries like Singapore, Hong Kong or South Korea. The quest for a high income economy will be impossible to achieve by 2020.
Vital for PPSMI to be promoted and implemented with the greatest urgency. It is imperative for PM Najib Razak to put his weight behind the patriotism of PAGE which is fighting for the rights of hundreds of thousans of parents who want PPSMI for their children studying in our schools so that they can be talented and equipped to build a better high income Malaysia.
Learn from Singapore, a multiracial, multilingual society which chose Englis to be the common uniting language and to become a high income society with a per capita income of US$60,000, whereas the per capita for Malaysia is US$8,500.