Many readers have written to the mainstream press in the past requesting the government to reconsider bringing back English-medium schools to address the rapid decline in the standard of English among our youths, but so far it has fallen on deaf ears.

Ironically, there have been a mushrooming of international and private schools all over the country where the medium of instruction in these schools are wholly in English. Why the double standards? These international and private schools are business oriented. Therefore, they do charge exorbitant fees which are way beyond the means of normal working class family in the country.

And yet there are certainly a demand for these schools otherwise there wouldn't be so many of them coming up and those who can afford it will spare no expense to enrol their children in these schools in order that they can get a better and holistic education.

Not to run down our own Kebangsaan schools but compared to the time when people of my generation were in school, there are obvious differences now in terms of the medium of instruction used and the racial composition of the schools.

Nowadays, in most Kebangsaan schools the student population will most likely come from one ethnic group, unlike during my time where the racial composition were more balanced. The same problem exists in vernacular schools as well.

Therefore, it is hardly surprising to know that many of these students from the Kebangsaan and vernacular schools rarely have friends outside their own ethnic group which is a shame considering our society is multi-racial, multi-cultural and multi-religious.

During my time, the racial composition in the National-type schools being more balanced have resulted in me having Malay, Indian and Eurasian friends till today. As schoolmates all of us ate together in the canteen, indulged in sporting activities together and most importantly was that we all enjoyed each other’s company even though we know of each other’s racial and religious differences.

However, that wasn’t an issue with us. We never had any animosity towards each other nor had that ‘awkward feeling’ of either them or us. We just treated each other as equals and all of us spoke good English.

Then in the mid 70s, the government decided to do away with English-medium schools and the result of that disastrous political decision is what we see among our youths today where many of the local graduates have great difficulty conversing in English.

Previously, the parents of Ahmad, Ah Chong and Muthu could send their children to school knowing they will have an excellent education conducted wholly in English, but now only the well-heeled can afford to do so at the numerous international and private schools which have sprung up over the years.

Racial imbalance

The reasons why many parents tend to shun the Kebangsaan schools could be the racial imbalance of the student population and the subtle infiltration of religion in these schools whether intentionally or not. This turn of events can be attributed to the role played by some of these school principals who may have difficulty in separating their role as an educator or a preacher.

Over the years, the decline of English had been staggering. Our local graduates now cannot conduct a decent conversation in English. If one cares to inquire from any job interviewer in the corporate world, they might just frighten you with their horror stories regarding the level of spoken English from their job applicants.

To arrest the problem, the government has to place more importance and emphasis on English to be taught in schools and universities and be serious about it. The government should not allow itself to be swayed by some hard core national language proponents that it belittles our national language to bring back English as a medium of instruction in our schools and universities.

By bringing back English-medium schools it will give parents a choice of which school they wish to enrol their child into, be it a Kebangsaan school or a vernacular school or an English medium school.

Also, do not forget that during the days of English-medium schools in the country, students still have to pass the Bahasa Malaysia paper in order to obtain a full certificate. So the argument that Bahasa Malaysia will be sidelined should English medium schools be revived holds no water.

Bahasa Malaysia is our national language that unites and identifies us as Malaysians. Period!