Teaching of Maths and Science in English a Flop
The truth is out. The teaching of mathematics and science in English the last 6 years has not improved the performance of students in those subjects.
“There have been changes but the difference is nominal,” said Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, the education minister in Parliament.
There is nothing to shout about for a two to three per cent change since the policy was implemented in 2003.
Those people who speak English at home thought that it was a good idea. But it never has been, not even to those whose “first” or “mother” language at home is English.
For the past 6 years, Opposition politicians have grilled the BN Government on the policy of teaching maths and science in English and not in the mother tongue of the students. The BN Government would not budge and insist that it was feasible.
How on earth would the BN Government admit that the policy is a failure after 6 years of its implementation?
It has to do with politics, largely in order to win back hearts, particularly after the political tsunamis of March 8, 2008.
The BN Government wants face, and after many years of debate, they say they will release a report in July.
Despite the admission that the controversial teaching policy has yielded a 2 to 3 percentage change, no one expects that report to be an honest one. It is most likely that it will be another report praising for its success. It may be a hybrid report, calling for a gradual replacement of the policy that was implemented in unholy haste and without much consultation.
It is bad faith on the part of the BN Government to delay releasing the report and shutting their eyes to the problem, but now shutting the policy down.
The end result is that the students will continue to be victimized by a bad policy.
Take a look at the education system that was the brain child of Mahathir in the early 1980’s. Then, the emphasis was on Bahasa Malaysia in the school curriculum. The system produced a generation of students who cannot master/muster or are illiterate in the English language. So pathetic was it that before Mahathir left the Prime Minister’s throne after 22 years there, he admitted that the system was a failure. But it was too late. The harm was done, and it will take another generation to rectify it.
Many teachers bred under this system do not even have a working knowledge of English. Yet, they were called to teach, and their lack of English proficiency was open book. Despite the handicap, many school head masters would arrange them to teach maths and science subjects in English. Bonuses were given for teaching the subjects in English, despite their lack of English proficiency.
Once, I was at a primary school compound. A teacher was teaching science. “A grasshopper hop-ped while a cockroach craw-led.” I could only listened and cried, Goodness!
It is ridiculous that the BN government realise the programme’s failure only after six years it has been implemented. Our children had been made guinea pigs.
We have no quarrel that English is an important international language. The Government can always train sufficient numbers of English teachers and teach the language in school.
There are ample scientific evidence that children excel in studies in their mother tongues. This is the sin of the BN Government – not emphasizing education using the language children know best.
In this area, the performance of the MCA and the SUPP are most pathetic. Year in year out, they agree with the Chinese community that maths and science must be taught in the students’ mother tongue and not in English. For more than 6 years now, they let time fly by and continued to be a puppet in the BN Government. They dare not utter against it. The utterances were more for public consumption in order not to lose votes. But the people have seen through them now.
The Government’s big headed approach to teaching Maths and science in English have not only victimized the students but also changed the characters and thwart the development of Chinese schools in Malaysia. Hopefully a decision will be made quickly to reverse the policy so that our younger generations do not suffer any longer.
23/6/2009
