2.0 Shift 2 2.

1 Introduction Shift 2 is one of the eleven shifts that are produced to transform the education system to be more effective. It ensures every child is proficient in Bahasa Malaysia and English Language. The main strategy under this shift is to introduce the common Bahasa Malaysia curriculum at the primary level. Children are also given remedial or intensive support classes in primary level to ensure the removal of Remove or Peralihan Class in secondary school. The objective of remove class was to train students who could not master the basic Bahasa Malaysia from vernacular schools. Literacy and Numeracy Programme (LINUS) is currently developed for Bahasa Malaysia and Mathematic subject in school. The main aim of LINUS programme was to ensure every child will acquire basic numeracy and literacy skills after 3 years of primary education. It is a remedial programme to help children acquire basic Bahasa Malaysia and Mathematic. The new Shift 2 expands LINUS programme to English language, too. Shift 2 also endorse English teacher to be more skillful and expand the opportunities for greater exposure to English language. One of the efforts taken is requiring all the Malaysian English teachers to sit for Cambridge Placement Test. According to Dr Khair Mohamad, teachera re required to achieve minimum band C1. If their score is below 75, they should be sent for retraining course to upskill their language proficiency in English. Students are more exposed to English by increasing the teaching period for English language rather than the current 15 to 20% duration. Literature component are also introduced in the secondary school to help students to be more proficient in English.

Shift 2 also encourages every child to learn an additional language other than English and Bahasa Malaysia by the end of 2025. Currently, Tamil, Chinese and Arabic are offered to be learned in schools. Spanish, Japanese and French will be introduced once the capacity and capability is strongly built. Additional languages are required to learn in order to equip students to enter the work force of the globalised world. This paper will extensively review the position of every child is encouraged to learn an additional language by 2025 with notion to peoples view and compare it to Australias Multicultural Policy. 2.2 Encourage Every Child to Learn an Additional Language by 2025 Malaysia is a multicultural country that consists of many races and culture. Every student in Malaysia knows at least 2 or 3 language before entering school. In school there are exposed to be proficient in Bahasa Malaysia and English. Apart from that, the Ministry of Education wanted the student to learn an additional language that will definitely equip students to face the globalised world in future. 2.3 Problems Affecting Present Form

Dr. Mohd Puad Zarkashi the Deputy Education Minister of Malaysia said that children should master English and Malay language by the end of secondary school. Malaysia is a multicultural country and the citizens should be able to master numerous languages as they grow up in the multicultural environment according to The Star article titled Education blueprint: Master languages, especially English, says PM dated September 11, 2012. Apart from that, Malaysian Prime Minister also stated that Malaysian should be able to master Bahasa Malaysia after 55 years staying here and English is a reality to speak well.

However, there are many issues that rise after the launching of the new education blueprint where children have to master 2 or more languages by the end of schooling. Problem arise when the national school syllabus for Bahasa Melayu was proposed to be used in Chinese school starting from Year 4 to Year 6 to ensure Chinese student master the language fast. Chinese schools refuse to accept the new syllabus to be used in the school even though their teaching time will not be increased as stated in TheStar newspaper entitled DPM: BM syllabus will not be forced on Chinese schools dated October 24, 2012. They feel their student will not be able to cope up with the national school syllabus that is tough.

Recently, Dong Zong members or also known as United Chinese School Committes Association of Malaysia protest against the new launching of the education blueprint in Petaling Jaya. They protest with the status Chinese Education as a Misunderstanding. They feel something is done with the vernacular schools. However, Muhyiddin the education minister of Malaysia said that additional teaching time for Bahasa Malaysia subject is result of the low achievement of Chinese pupils. It would not be enacted if their Bahasa Malaysia level is balance with national schools. He also said that government is being fair with all types of schools.

2.4 Conclusion 3.0 Australia 3.1 Introduction Australia is a multicultural country. Julia Gillard, the Prime Minister of Australia stated that the country provides home to many people around the world in p. 4 of the Australias Multicultural Policy.
Our countrys story is the story of our people in this place. Australia has provided a new home and a chance at a better life for millions of people. I am a migrant. My family embraced the sense of

opportunity and community that they found in Australia and the possibilities for their children that this multicultural country offered them.

Referring to Australias Multicultural Policy, it is affirmed that seven million people have been migrating to Australia ever since 1945. Thus, they speak in 260 languages and have 270 ancestries. Besides that, 44% of Australians are born overseas or have a parent that is born overseas. In addition, the policy also mentioned that 4 million people of Australia are calculated to speak language other than English. Language issues were seriously taken into account during the 1970 to 1980. English has been their main language and the medium of instruction in schools along with French, German, Greek and Latin before the 1980s. During the 1970s, a large scale of immigrants have started to enter the country. However, there were strongly required to learn English and stop using their mother tongue. Many children enter school by speaking other language and the government realized that the country has turned into multilingual country. Hence, starting 1980 onwards, language policies have been discussed and formed to serve the multicultural community. The first language policy was developed in 1987 entitled National Policy of Language. 3.2 Language Policies Enacted National Policy of Language highlighted on serving the multicultural community by providing fund to teach other languages through projects. The projects were not successful when the fund dries up that leads to the development of The Australian Language and Literacy Policy (ALLP) in 1991. ALLP was implemented from 1992 until 1996. This policy stresses on the English literacy and other languages as second or foreign languages. According to Department of Employment, Education and Training (DEET) 1991, the Minister at that time mention that

English is important. Yet, it is also important to learn other language to communicate with the world.
Australian English...is our national language. But Australia's cultural vitality is also the product of other languages spoken in our community... ...as important as proficiency in Australian English is for Australians, we also need to enhance our ability to communicate with the rest of the world. We must increase our strength in languages other than English in order to both enrich the intellectual and cultural vitality of our population, and to help secure our future economic well-being... Many more Australians need to learn a second language.

The policy also aims to increase the language richness of the country. For example, a target was set on 25% of Year 12 students should achieve in learning a language by the year 2000. Besides that, the policy comprises of 4 goals such as all Australian residents should be fluent in spoken and written English, the learning of other languages should be improved and expanded to enhance the communication and educational outcome between Australia and international community, language services should b expanded and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language should be maintained. The policy inculcates multiculturalism. It emphasize on learning English as the national language and another 14 languages as the national priority languages. The 14 languages include aboriginal language, Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Modern Greek, Russian, Spanish, Thai and Vietnamese. The policy wants all children to have access on the Asian languages. Various financial aids, training and supports were provided by the government. Nevertheless, the policy was abolished in 1996. On the other hand, NALSSAS report (1994) argues that ALLP is an excellent policy which encourages students to learn Asian language which will promote their economic trade while learning other cultures. Not only that, the requirement of learning and additional language at the age of 7 (primary school) is also known to be an advantage for students to learn the

language. The failure of the policy is because of lacking teachers that are proficient in English and Asian languages. However, the ALLP policy is still supported by the federal government until it is reviewed. The current policy that is related to ALLP is The shape of Australian Curriculum 2011 that is implemented till current. The content is similar to ALLP where English is the main language that needs to be learnt by the Australian children. But, the learning of second language is divided into phases. The same 14 language is given priority to be learnt. The first stage covers the learning of English, Chinese and Italian. Chinese and Italian languages are chose to be learned at a very early stage because the users are numerous in the country. The second stage encompasses languages such as French, German, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean and Spanish. These are languages that are commonly taught in Australian schools. The final stage would be languages like Arabic, Modern Greek and Vietnamese that are often used in Australian home. On the other hand, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander are taught as a crucial language in school because it reflects the rich culture of the country. 3.3 Conclusion