The education ministry will not use a dual language system to teach Science and Mathematics in national schools anytime soon, its minister Hishammuddin Hussein said today.

"It will depend on the results of our study...it is a question of implementation and it takes time. I need empirical evidence and to see whether there is any proof because we can can't make a decision without any proof," he told a press conference at the Parliament lobby.

The minister said there is no need to change the policy as it had been agreed to by various parties until 2007, when a review will be carried out.

He was asked to comment on whether national schools would emulate Chinese schools in using the dual language system - mother tongue and English - in teaching Science and Mathematics.

Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said yesterday that he had instructed the education ministry to look into new and additional teaching methods to arrest the drop in the performance of students in the two subjects.

At the recent Second Malay Education Congress, a few calls were made including urging the government to return to the policy of using the national language as the medium of instruction for both subjects.

Hishammuddin did not comment on new teaching methods, but stressed that the ministry will continue to implement the policy with three current approaches - enhancing hardware and software facilities, as well as enhancing teacher training.

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He also said the education ministry would conduct another comprehensive study on a "broader agenda", which will encompass the language switch policy, information technology, smart schools and television education.

The study will be carried out under the Ninth Malaysia Plan and is expected to be furnished by the middle of next year.

During the question session in the Dewan Rakyat earlier, Hishammuddin said the level of understanding of Science and Mathematics among primary and secondary students has improved since the language switch policy was implemented two years ago.

He cited the latest analysis of level of understanding showed that Year One pupils were fast adapting to the two subjects as well as to the English language, he told Ghazali Ibrahim (BN-Padang Terap).

"The average score for Science was 69.3 percent, Mathematics (77.4 percent) and English language (77.7 percent)," he added.

"The performance analysis for Year One pupils in 20 of the best schools in the study showed that the rural schools could compete with the urban schools in terms of performance."