Institut Pendidikan Guru Malaysia (IPGM),

Kampus Tuanku Bainun,

14000 Bukit Mertajam,
Pulau Pinang.

Star Publication (Malaysia) Bhd,
Menara Star,
15 JLN 16/11,
46350 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor Darul Ehsan. 2
nd
August 2009
Dear Editor,
Re : Lets be more realistic not ideological
The axe has fallen and the government has finally decided to revert the medium
of instruction for Mathematics and Science to Bahasa Malaysia in national schools and
Chinese and Tamil vernacular schools. This decision has made after 6 years of
experimentaring with hapless schoolchildren. The decision to switch back to Bahasa
Malaysia beginning from 2012 has drawn both praise and criticism from the public. I
heard the news about this decision to abandon teaching Science and Mathematics in
English (PPSMI) with a heavy heart. So, as a future teacher, I do like compelled to
comment on the announcement of this reversal policy.
2. I feel this decision is not in the best decision of either the student or the nation. In
my opinion, we should have kept the current policy of using English, if we are concern
about future of our students. This is because this language would have a served the
students well in the globalised environment. Tun Dr. Mahathir Muhammad our former
Prime Minister, who was behind the original policy of PPSMI said his intention was to
ensure that Malaysians were able to face global challenges at the earliest opportunity.
Besides that, English is also crucial for better employment, international communication,
and the acquisition of knowledge, if our students are not able to communicate with the
world or are hindered from gaining knowledge because of our deficiency in the
language our ability to complete internationally will be serious undermined. This would
also rob the younger generation of job opportunities.
3. Besides, this reversal policy also a great burden for the students, especially
those who are currently in Form 1 to revert to Bahasa Malaysia when they reach Form 4
in 2012. This Form 1 batch is the first batch of primary students who did PPSMI from
Year 1. I hope government especially our Education Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin
understands the problem faced by these students who will have to switch to Bahasa
Malaysia for two years when they are in Form 4 and 5, then back to English again when
they pursuing their studies to Form 6 or matriculation. It is unfair for them. Many
parents and students also are disappointed at the Cabinets decision to revert decision,
this statement was quoted from The Star,9
th
July. Although the Education Ministry
maybe working towards a soft landing on the reversal of the teaching science and
mathematics but it is giving a great and negative impact to the students. There was a
letter too published to The Star on 13
th
July by a worried parent regarding this problem.
4. I do agree with the Mathematics teacher, M.Vasu in the newspaper The Star
published on 12
th
July 2009 that improving the English classes will not be effective in
improving English proficieny in the rural areas because many will not be motivated to
learn in the language if Science and Mathematics are taught in Bhasa Malaysia. Who
says students from rural areas cannot catch up with English in teaching Science and
Mathematics? There are a lot of students have scored flying colours in their studies
especially in these subjects. We should look back, when the medium teaching in the
colonial times around 60s and 70s, the quality of English among the students are not
bad although many of them are from rural areas like villages and estates. We also
managed to produce a lot of professionals during that period. This is because it is not
about where you learn English but it is about how it is taught and who is teaching.
Government should play the role by providing a lot of quality teachers to teach
Mathematics and Science. They should be given enough training to make them expert
in this field before they start teaching.
I am afraid the governments decision will set the students and nation back. To
conclude, I would strongly appeal to our Education Ministry planners to think very
carefully before implementing of this new policy.
Thank You.
Sincerely,
RATNA MALAR A/P NADASON
IPGM KTB