Mixed Reactions

Well, here come's the decision many of us fear of hearing. At last the government has decided to make the teaching of Maths and Science back to the mother tongue in Chinese and Tamil primary schools and Malay in all primary and secondary schools except for Form 6 and matriculation. As for university level , it is still under consideration.

My, my this decision has surely caused uneasiness among those who disagree. Majority felt great disappointment indeed. Thinking how much our children in future will lose in the end. For those who didn't find English any problem at all, they deserve the right to study and grab today's knowledge in a split second in English, the international language.

Ironically, those politicians and diehard patriots of their own mother tongues will agree with the switch back to the original medium. However, I am sure, they will be the ones who have the cheek to send their children to study overseas, attend international schools, special English tuitions, expensive summer camps etc. because deep inside them they agree English is more important.

On the other hand, there are parents who can't afford to provide and support their children through the above mentioned luxurious means, and are hoping that their children can pick up learning Maths and Science in English from the schools. They know it will take time and one must be patient to acquire a language or a skill. PPSMI has only been implemented for 6 years.

To have all the subjects in Bahasa Malaysia except for English Language would mean the exposure is less. Studying Science is definately better in English as Bahasa Malaysia does not have enough terms and Science and technology is forever changing fast. By the time we get the English books translated into Bahasa Malaysia, we would be way behind others in the world. I wonder whether we'll be able to achieve a developed nation status as targeted in 2020.

We must not compare Bahasa Malaysia with Japan or Korea where their language has been ancient and powerful.Learning English in Maths and Science is good. What is no good is the attitude of certain people and the learner's themselves. No doubt studies have been studied but the results collected from certain groups of people and the pressure from political parties and racist groups were more influential than the studies done on the groups especially from the cities and towns and from those who are the product of English medium schools who favour learning Maths and Science in English. This is like the majority wins and all have to zip up their mouths and obey the orders.

We still hope that Maths and Science will continue in English in secondary schools especially as by 6 years of English in primary schools these students are more ready to learn in English these two subjects. As for the teachers, they have to brush up , go for trainings and work harder to carry out the responsibility to deliver the knowledge. If there's a will, there's a way. After all the government do provide the teachers teaching Maths and Science with incentives such as a 10% or 5% of their pay per month. The money should have been used to buy English books, newspapers, go for tuitions or buy English CDs to improve their English proficiency. Sad but true it is that many of them spend the extra incentives not on improving their English proficiency but to pay installments for a new car or buying other things.

Well, having gone through the English medium education I do not regret it at all. Though I don't become an English professor at least as an English teacher I do my part in teaching English and motivating the pupils. However, I do regret not picking up Mandarin but I have myself to blame for this.

Even in my little town here, my school used to be an English medium school where Malay parents from the village miles away used to send their children to our school as they too realised the importance of English. Nowadays, their children are doing well because English has helped them. In the 60s especially it was truly multi racial . Nowadays, parents around this area do not send them to my school anymore as it has changed to the Malay medium like the other national schools.

Whatever it is English teaching is facing a great challenge. English teachers have to work overtime to ensure learning English is fun and effective. There are many positive steps to take to help these English teachers but the most important is the receivers who are the pupils. They must be willing to learn and speak English confidently. Then their parents too must have positive attitudes as well.

The government plans to employ foreign English teachers to teach here. It will be a great idea too to send the English Master Teachers or Guru Cemerlang overseas for a study tour or a short programme like they used to do some time ago. This would be better as local teachers know our own students better and we can adopt and adapt better than those foreigners who will cost a huge sum of tax payers' money.

My only hope is that the Malaysian government will listen to the minority's voice too . Malaysians who care for the future generation and wish that Maths and Science continue to be taught in English , especially in secondary schools.