This was a news article written by Max de Lotbiniere in July 2009. The article reported the decision of the Malaysian government to abandon the policy of teaching Mathematics and Science in English (PPSMI). It was first implemented by Malaysia’s prime minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 2003 with the intention to produce a new generation of global communicators. However, this policy will now be phased out from 2012 because ‘it has not achieved the desired objectives’, was mentioned by Muhyiddin Yassin, the Education Minister in a press conference.
The main reasons which led to this decision was that Muhyiddin believed students were performing less well in Mathematics and Science in national exams after implementing the policy and that some politicians and linguists, especially ethnic Malay believes that PPSMI policy undermines their Malay culture.
I do not agree with the government's decision to drop the PPSMI policy as it will hurt graduates competing for jobs against people from other countries like Singapore and decrease the competitiveness of the country in the global market due to the poor English skills. English is the international language in the technology, medicine and the sciences fields. The poor standard of English among Malaysian workers has been a longstanding complaint by most investors including Intel. Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) executive director Shamsuddin Bardan once told the Malaysia Chronicle that poor command of the language among fresh graduates was one of the top grouses of employers. He thinks that PPSMI was scrapped too soon and it would take at least 15 years to justify if a policy was a success (Malaysia Chronicle, 2003).
Furthermore, universities use English as a medium of instruction in courses related to science and technology. Following the abandonment of PPSMI policy, will the Malaysian government still be able to prepare students to cope with the higher level of competence needed for tertiary education when English is just a subject in the school curriculum? Therefore, there was a rally called Parents for PPSMI (P4P) held whereby a crowd of parents asked for the PPSMI policy to be retained and to seek an overall review of education for the beneficial of their children.
In conclusion, I do think that the PPSMI policy needs to be retained to take the education system in Malaysia to the next phase of development. Only then will Malaysia be one step closer to becoming a fully developed nation.
"PPSMI Scrapped Too Soon? Dr M’s appeal for English proficiency gets support."
Malaysia Chronicle. Malaysia Chronicla, 14 Nov. 2003. Web. 14 Nov. 2003.
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