— by Hussaini Abdul Karim
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 04, 2011

OCT 4 — Our New Education Policy, introduced in the early 70s and revised two or three times over the last few years, allows for national-type Chinese and Tamil schools where the mediums of instruction are Chinese and Tamil, respectively, up to secondary school level besides the national primary and secondary schools where the medium of instruction is Bahasa Malaysia.

All students are required to sit for the SPM examination in Form Five and Bahasa Malaysia is offered in all schools at all levels and it is a must-pass subject in order for students to qualify for the UPSR, PMR and the SPM. Looking at it, our New Education Policy is almost perfect. What is lacking, to make it perfect, is that the government does not allow national-type English schools to be set up. Otherwise, our New Education Policy and the whole school system would be the envy of almost every country in the world including some developed countries.

It is difficult to fathom why Chinese and Tamil are allowed as mediums of instruction in national-type vernacular schools, but the government does not allow the re-introduction of English-medium schools. Even the popular PPSMI syllabus where English was used to teach mathematics and science subjects will be abolished and come next year, all students in national primary and secondary schools will start with the all-new MBMMBI syllabus where the medium of instruction is Bahasa Malaysia. Read the rest of this entry »

— Lan Boon Leong
The Malaysian Insider
Sep 25, 2011

SEPT 25 — It was reported in the press last month that the Education Ministry is sticking by its decision to abolish the PPSMI policy of teaching and learning Science and Mathematics in English.

The abolishment of the policy means that the two subjects will be taught solely in Bahasa Malaysia in the national schools, and solely in Mandarin or Tamil in the national-type schools.

Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi, the Deputy Education Minister, said he and many other academics believe the two subjects need to be taught in the students’ mother tongues.

UNESCO, in fact, advocates mother-tongue education for all subjects because children learn better in their mother tongue. However, mother-tongue education, although desirable, will make the national and national-type schools even more ethnically polarised.

Moreover, there are many Malaysian children of diverse ethnic background — Malays included — whose mother tongue or first language is English. But there are presently no English-medium national-type schools to accommodate them. Aren’t these students disadvantaged compared to their peers whose mother tongue is Bahasa Malaysia or Mandarin or Tamil? Read the rest of this entry »

By Hussaini Abdul Karim
August 27, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

AUG 27 — It is very pleasing and most delightful to the ears to hear many non-Malay Malaysians, both young and old (except maybe some of the older ones) speaking and writing in perfect Bahasa Malaysia, some without even a hint of an accent whatsoever, in the case of the former.

The country’s New Education Policy to switch from English to Bahasa Malaysia introduced and implemented in the early 70s must have done wonders. With the introduction of new laws, rules and regulations, the policy makers have found a very effective way to teach the national language which is now widely used and accepted throughout the country at every level including in the home. Read the rest of this entry »

G Vinod
Free Malaysia Today
August 10, 2011

The government wants to abolish the teaching of Maths and Science in English next year but Mara junior colleges will teach the subjects in English under the Cambridge programme.

PETALING JAYA: Even Mara understands the importance of English. Their junior colleges have decided to offer Cambridge programme, said Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia (Page).

Page chairperson Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim said in a statement this showed that even Mara, which largely caters for rural Malays, understood the importance of the English language.

On Saturday, Bernama reported that Mara would be offering the Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education programme, equivalent to an O-Level certificate, at all 45 Mara Junior Science Colleges (MRSM) in Malaysia by 2016.

Currently, Mara director-general Ibrahim Ahmad said, the programme is being offered at the Tun Adbul Razak MRSM in Pekan, Pahang. Read the rest of this entry »

By Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
May 27, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, May 27 — The Najib administration has not decided on switching back to English for Science and Mathematics (PPSMI) because several Cabinet ministers feel any change would be another embarrassing flip-flop.

The Malaysian Insider understands the Cabinet has discussed the issue but ministers are still divided, leaving Datuk Seri Najib Razak to ask the Education Ministry to work out the various options.

“They don’t want to appear to flip-flop like the Abdullah government,” a government source told The Malaysian Insider recently.

Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s rule was marked by several policy U-turns that led to him being mocked by predecessor Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and other critics. Read the rest of this entry »

Page
The Malaysian Insider
May 24, 2011

MAY 24 — “We will consider the Prime Minister’s views and what can be done to fulfil the wish of certain groups.” — Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, April 4, 2011

“The teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics can be carried out bilingually according to the capabilities of the teachers or students.” — Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, April 24, 2011

Prior to the Sarawak state election over a month ago, Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Najib Razak made an encouraging announcement, on the possibility of using two mediums of instruction for the teaching of Science and Mathematics in schools. Parents are eagerly looking forward to a meaningful dialogue with the Ministry of Education. However, there has been no subsequent follow-up since then, leaving many of us in the dark. Read the rest of this entry »

by Stephanie Sta Maria
Free Malaysia Today
January 18, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR: A nation’s economy is only as good as its education system. So powerful is education that even the subtlest tweak has the propensity to either elevate or relegate a nation on the global stage.

Policy-makers therefore tread with great care when proposing policy amendments, acutely aware of the staggering impact their decisions would have on the country’s future.

Malaysia’s policy-makers, however, appeared to have lacked this attention to detail when deciding to reverse the teaching and learning of Science and Maths in English (PPSMI). And that move has placed Malaysia’s economy on shaky ground.

Cheong Kee Cheok, a Senior Research Fellow with the Faculty of Economics in Universiti Malaya, expressed grave concern over the system’s failure to produce the human resources needed to propel the country forward. And this, he warned, would severely cripple the flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) into Malaysia.

“One of the benefits a country reaps from FDI is the acquisition of technology,” he said. “But we can only acquire it if we speak the language of technology, which is English. Unfortunately, we are losing out to the Thais, Vietnamese and Chinese in our ability to communicate in English.”

“We have enjoyed FDI for 30 years but what technology have we acquired? To a certain extent, piracy is a key indicator of a country’s technological prowess. China is able to pirate almost anything whereas our piracy is limited to DVDs.”

The inability of a nation to acquire a certain strength leaves it no choice but to be dependent on other nations. This stagnancy will gradually reduce its competitiveness and eventually ease it out of the economic supply chain altogether.

“Our lack of technological expertise will dissuade technologically capable industries from investing in Malaysia,” Cheong said. “Right now we are still locked in a supply chain but our position will shift as other nations become better.” Read the rest of this entry »