Mind your language

It has been awhile since I last wrote or commented on Government’s policies. This time I cannot hold my tongue.

Today, the government has decided to scrap the teaching of Maths and Science in English. It would be reverted to Bahasa Malaysia. I have issues with this decision as I am all for the teaching of Maths and Science in English. I have more issues with the so-called reasons behind the decision. I cannot help but think it was a political decision rather than for the benefit of the glorious country of Bolehland.

Firstly, this is what Muhyidin said;

"The government made the decision after studying closely research on PPSMI that shows that PPSMI could not be implemented as expected,"

He further said;

“studies showed that PPSMI was never implemented as originally hoped. Instead, teachers were using both English and Bahasa Melayu to teach Science and Mathematics, and the gap between urban and rural schools in the two subjects grew wider after PPSMI was implemented.

So the reason why it could not be further implemented was due to the teachers. He said

“Only 19.2% of secondary teachers and 9.96% of primary teachers were sufficiently proficient in English,”

This is a lame excuse. A simple solution is to strengthen the English proficiency among those teachers.

Secondly, Muhyidin denied that the policy had failed. He said;

"I wouldn't say it was a complete failure, but it did not achieve what it was supposed to achieve,"

When you say it did not achieve its target that means it failed la. I cannot understand why after only 6 years the govt can come to a conclusion that “it did not achieve what it was suppose to achieve”.

These things take time. It is still in its infancy. It would have been proper to evaluate the policy after 10 years or so. Primary schools starts when a child reaches 7 years old, by the time he finishes Form 5 it would be 10 years. This is premature ejaculation Mr. Minister.

Thirdly, Muhyidin said that the teaching of Maths and Science would be reverted to Bahasa Malaysia in stages starting in 2012. That is 3 years from now! You just said that it didn’t achieve what it was supposed to achieve and yet you see it fit to continue it for the next 3 years. It doesn’t make sense la. The next 3 years could have been spent educating teachers to be more proficient in English rather prolonging its death. To me, this might be a political ploy. Come 2012, they might just continue the policy as the whole brouhaha would have died down.

Finally, Muhyidin also said that he had briefed former PM, Tun Mahathir for 3 hours on the decision, which he claims, Tun had accepted. As soon as I read this, I had the instinct to check out chedet.com. Tun again made known his stand on the issue and said his views were not accepted.

On this issue I have to agree with the old man. This is a step backward for the education of our children.