(Penang, Sunday): It is most shocking that the special cabinet meeting on
Tuesday to decide on the Education
Ministry proposal to implement the teaching of Science and Mathematics in
English next year should be postponed to Friday because of Pendang and Anak
Bukit by-elections.
Last Wednesday’s weekly Cabinet meeting was brought
forward one day earlier because it clashed with the Nomination Day for the
Pendang and Anak Bukit by-elections.
Why should the presence of the Cabinet Ministers at the
Pendang and Anak Bukit by-election nominations last Wednesday be so important
that the weekly Cabinet meeting on Wednesday had to be changed?
And now, the special Cabinet meeting specially convened on
Tuesday, July 16, to discuss the proposal of the committee headed by the
Education Ministry’s director-general Datuk Abdul Rafie Mahat on the teaching
of Science and Mathematics in English and determine its implementation in
schools next year had to be postponed to Friday – again because of the Pendang
and Anak Bukit by-elections.
This is a most irresponsible and unprofessional manner in
running the Education Ministry and the Cabinet – and it is unthinkable that
such things would have taken place under the first three Prime Ministers, Tunku
Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein Onn or under the previous Education
Ministers!
Now that there is a three-day extension of the special Cabinet meeting on the usage of English in schools, the Education Minister, Tan Sri Musa Mohamad should make public the proposal of the Abdul Rafie committee so that there could be public feedback which should be beneficial for the special Cabinet meeting on the subject on Friday.
This is important as pertinent questions have been asked about the competence and qualification of the Cabinet to decide on this important question, when it was many of the same Ministers who are responsible for the current mess in the education system, including the deplorable drop in the standards of English undermining Malaysia’s national competitiveness.
What exactly is the term of reference of the Abdul Rafie committee – is it to make proposals on the implementation of the teaching of Science and Mathematics at all primary and secondary school levels next year, including the holding of the UPSR, PMR and SPM examinations in English, or has it a larger remit, to arrest the declining standard of the English language among students and to enhance English fluency among Malaysians to upgrade the national competitiveness to better position the country to face the challenges of globalization, liberalization and information and communications technology?
What the Cabinet should decide next week is to adopt a
national policy to enhance the standards of English in the country, not only in schools but also among
the general population, giving approval for “Master English” initiatives -
like the proposed “English Day” in Selangor every Thursday where the whole
state government, from the office boy to the Mentri besar, are encouraged to
talk, converse, discuss and meet in English to promote the language among the
people – but to give leeway for a professional and effective programme of
English teaching in the schools.
The standards of English did not suddenly decline overnight
– so improvements in the command of English cannot similarly be achieved
overnight.
The proposal to introduce the teaching of Science and
Mathematics in English in all primary and secondary forms next year, including
the holding of UPSR, PMR and SPM, without any preparation or the supporting
infrastructure, is not only too hasty, ill-considered but even hare-brained as
being a most unprofessional
response to an educational problem.
With most of the teachers themselves no more conversant in
English, let alone proficient, the suggestion that the teachers and pupils learn
to master English together with the latest IT techniques is not a very
“smart” idea and is unlikely to be productive or successful.
What the Cabinet should decide next week is to make English
a compulsory pass subject for all public examinations, and then work backwards
to raise the standards of English among the primary and secondary school
students in a systematic and well-planned programme.
The mess in the schools from a precipitate introduction of
the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English in all primary and secondary
forms and the holding of public examinations in these subjects in
English can be foreshadowed by
the following two recent contradictory statements in a matter of three days:
The statement by Abdul Rafie that a survey carried out by
the Education Ministry recently reveals that teachers are on the whole
“positive” towards using English as the medium of instruction for Science
and Mathematics. (Star 2.7.02)
Three days later, the concern expressed by the National
Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP) that teaching science and mathematics in
English may make it difficult for the government to achieve its 60:40 target
ratio of science to mathematics students. An
NUTP memorandum to the Education Ministry said that students who do not live in
an English-speaking environment would find it difficult to understand the
science and mathematics syllabi. There is also no study which states that
teaching science and mathematics in English is more effective than in Bahasa
Melayu or other languages. (NST 5.7.02).
Such conflicting and confusing statements by the nation’s
educators and planners are not calculated to inspire public confidence that the
people could look forward to an end
to the long-running crisis in the
national education system – which seems to be compounded with each change of
Education Minister.
It is a fatal flaw of the 10-year Education Development Blueprint 2001-2010 which
was announced by Musa last October that it made no reference and had no
recommendation to address the problem of deplorable decline of English standards
in the schools.
Is this the reason why the Education Ministry does not have
a copy of the 10-year Education Development Blueprint for DAP MPs and leaders,
after some two weeks of asking?
About two week
ago, my office had contacted the Education Ministry for copies of the 10-Year
Education Development Blueprint as the draft blueprint was never tabled in
Parliament and there had been no extensive public consultation although the
Education Minister had invited public feedbacks for the blueprint.
The government and the Education Ministry talk a lot about the IT revolution and the use of IT in education, including smart schools, but they themselves lack the mindset and culture of an information society – testified by the fact that the draft Education Development Blueprint 2001-2010 has not been posted on the Education Ministry website for the widest public dissemination although it was announced some ten months ago!
The DAP Central Executive Committee has taken a policy decision to draft a 10-year Education Master Plan (2003-2013) for a world-class education system for Malaysia to face the challenges of globalisation, liberalization and information and communications technology and we had hoped to get copies of the draft Education Development Blueprint 2001-2010 for study in drafting the 10-Year Education Master Plan.
I find it completely mind-boggling that the Education Ministry has not been able to produce a single copy of the draft blueprint to respond to the DAP request for nearly a fortnight, unless the Ministry is ashamed to distribute it because of the fatal flaws in the blueprint., such as the omission without a single mention of the urgent importance to enhance the standards of English in schools and universities.
(14/7/2002)