Students at Year One, Form One and Lower Six will be taught Mathematics and Science in English for the first time in decades. But this policy is silly, confusing and regressive, and it is doomed to fail.

According to Education Ministry director-general Abdul Rafie Mahat ( The Star , Dec 30), the government is allocating RM136 million to train 49,000 Year Two, Form Two and Upper Six Maths and Science teachers to instruct in English from 2004, and RM92 million will be spent on training teachers of other subjects at all levels.

Abdul Rafie also said the government will triple the number of contract English-language experts from Britain to improve English proficiency among students . While the current focus is on implementation, Abdul Rafie said the ministry's main aim is to improve English proficiency among students (italics for emphasis), adding, " Everything is already in place for the implementation of Mathematics and Science in English at Year One, Form One and Lower Six ."

Presumably this begins in 2003. But he said preparations have to be made to teach these students when they move up in 2004: "As such, we have begun preparations for the next phase the training of Maths and Science teachers at Year Two, Form Two and Upper Six. This is part of our on-going programme which will culminate in 2007 at which time all pupils and students will learn Maths and Science in English ."

I don't know about you but I'm very confused. Am I missing something here? For starters, take Lower Six students: Will this move be enough to ensure that students will be sufficiently proficient in English within two years to handle university courses taught in English, if they choose to study abroad? I have serious doubts.

The government must explain clearly, and once and for all if taxpayers' money is to be spent on improving English proficiency among Malaysian students generally, or is it to improve proficiency in teaching and learning Maths and Science using English? Because the two aren't the same. What's more, they don't add up.

It seems to me the whole plan is bedeviled by muddled thinking and logic, primarily the result of confusion among policy planners. And there is serious lack of details. As a measure of public policy and administration, this is already a dismal failure. More, the net benefits of this plan will be so minuscule that it does not justify the RM228 million expenditure.

Also, you don't have to teach Maths and Science in English. After nearly 32 years of a national education policy that reverted to Bahasa Malaysia as the medium of instruction, the sudden need to change to English in teaching Maths and Science because of, on the one hand, the sudden realisation that English proficiency among Malaysians is very poor, and on the other hand, the sudden realisation that English is the world's lingua franca , either way does not foster a clear-cut rationale.

As an academic, I agree that the standard of English proficiency among Malaysian students whom I and most of my colleagues have taught at several universities in Australia is not only poor, but abysmal. You only have to mark Malaysian students' papers, or even discuss with them one-to-one or as a group, to fully comprehend that something drastic has to be done, urgently, to improve English proficiency in Malaysia.

If the goal is to generally improve English proficiency in Malaysia, then it is a great idea, and a most welcome one, too. But the way the government is going about this is plainly wrong and short-sighted. There is no way that English proficiency can be improved by employing English as the instructional language for Maths and Science. Even less so by using ICT-based learning tools a method tried at universities and which has largely proved a failure.

Using PC notebooks to teach Maths and Science in English, or even to teach English per se, is tantamount to telling students they should rely solely on the dictionary that comes with most PC word processors, rather than a physical copy of a dictionary (and thesaurus). Teaching English the proper way means getting students to learn the basic rules and principles of good English, oral and written, and all of its accoutrements. Nothing less will do.

I'm convinced Malaysian teachers of English don't have those skills either. It's not their fault; it is more a reflection of a failed policy. Moreover, I know of several non-English speaking countries, like China, Japan, both Koreas, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma and Indonesia, where Maths and Science are being taught in their native languages and to near equal effect with Western, English-speaking countries.

Take the Russians, who have sent people into space, and even teamed up with America's NASA space programmes. They have managed to communicate with their counterparts by learning each other's languages. What's more, these scientific programmes, individually and in concert, have had marvelous successes.

The Malaysian government needs to rethink its policy and strategy, because not only it is confusing, but it is doomed to fail. The government has to decide, leaving parochial politics aside and acting in the national interest. If the plan is to teach Maths and Science in English, it should clearly explain to all Malaysians the logic and benefits of this move, including showing detailed plans or strategies.

The Education Ministry is not filled by professional educators but untrained politicians and bureaucrats. Malaysia cannot afford to let politicians and bureaucrats further ruin the country's education system. Or is its plan to improve English proficiency among Malaysians more generally? If it is the latter (and I hope that it is), the government will have to go back to the drawing-board, revisit the national education policy for starters, revamp that, then begin to overhaul curricula and syllabi at every level of education, including colleges and universities.

There's a dire and urgent need to improve English proficiency in Malaysia, given the abhorring standards of most Malaysian students at Australian universities, of Malaysian students at Malaysian universities, and of many Malaysian teachers of English in Malaysian schools, colleges and universities, and of the media.