Since Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's Budget 2016 announcement last year of two new pilot programmes to support the improvement of English language proficiency of students in schools, the Dual Language Programme (DLP) and the Highly Immersive Programme (HIP), have faced a barrage of unfounded criticism and opposition from critics.

These pilot programmes should be celebrated because the government is finally allowing parents to have a say in their children's education, albeit still in a limited way.

This is a bottom-up policy where parents are able to vote on whether their child’s school gets DLP, HIP, or even opt out altogether.

This is a powerful move, yet it seems that many groups don’t understand that the school leadership and parents hold the power.

It is an unsupported and harmful assertion to claim that these policies are a throwback to colonial times, and to falsely accuse that it prioritises English at the cost of proficiency in Bahasa Malaysia.

Schools can only do it if they are already good in Bahasa Malaysia. These detractors are denying parents the right to choose what is best for their own children.

Who are they to dictate what parents can or cannot do? Are they saying that all parents are too stupid to know what is best for their children?

What makes them think they know better than the millions of parents and teachers?

The DLP will only be offered to government national schools that meet four criteria: proper resources, teachers who can teach in English and Bahasa Malaysia, parents who are supportive of the programme, and schools that are already performing well in Bahasa Malaysia with cumulative grade point averages (CGPAs) at or above the national average in national examinations.

They will be given the option to teach Science, Mathematics, Information Technology and Communication, and Design and Technology, in English or Bahasa Malaysia.

Meanwhile, the HIP aims to strengthen English proficiency by increasing usage hours outside the classroom.

These are essentially what the programmes are meant to do.

WAN SAIFUL WAN JAN is chief executive of Institute of Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas).