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Friday July 10, 2009

Aim has not changed, only the method, says Najib

By MAZWIN NIK ANIS


PUTRAJAYA: The aim of making Malaysians more proficient in English has not changed with the decision to revert the teaching of Science and Mathematics to Bahasa Malaysia, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said.

The Prime Minister said it was still the Government’s aim to see Malaysians proficient in English and master it to enable them to compete in the global arena.

“The aim remains the same. There is no change. Only the method in reaching the objective is now different,” he told a press conference after chairing the SME development council meeting here yesterday.

He was responding to reaction to the decision by the Government to revert to using Bahasa Malaysia in the teaching of the two subjects.

Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyi­­ddin Yassin on Wednesday announced that the subjects would be taught in Bahasa Malaysia or in the mother tongue in vernacular schools from 2012, while English would be given prominence by beefing up the teaching of the language.

Najib said the Government was aware how important it was for Malaysians to be proficient in English.

He said increasing the time allocated to teaching English, introducing English literature and language laboratories, among others, would be a better method in boosting proficiency in the language than using it to teach Mathematics and Science.

Najib said reverting to Bahasa Malaysia would not pose a problem as it has been proven that “we have be able to produce doctors and professionals by teaching the subjects in Malay.”

“Many doctors went through the education system in Malay right through university. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia has produced a number of good doctors.

“There is no question about quality being compromised or affected,” he said.

He added that the cost of reverting the decision had yet to be determined but the present hardware and software used for the earlier purpose could still be used.

Najib said it would be up to the Education Ministry to consider the suggestion of allowing certain schools the option to continue with the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English.

“But we see only 8% of teachers are really confident in teaching in English. In reality, it is not really happening the way we had envisaged,” he said.

Najib said another issue was the critical allowance given to teachers involved in teaching Science and Mathematics in English.

He said some teachers were more concerned about their allowance than the overall objective of reversing the policy.

Later when asked about former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad being “disappointed and saddened” by the decision, Najib again said that the aim of the change was to boost proficiency in English among Malaysians, particularly the young, remain but only the method of achieving the target was different.

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