Think possible, Education Ministry says of new policy on English
In the movie Mission: Impossible , the mission turned out to be possible at least by the time the credits rolled, and that is how the problem of teaching science and mathematics in English will turn out too, the Education Ministry told the Dewan Rakyat today.
The ministry's parliamentary secretary, Mahadzir Mohd Khir, was addressing the concerns among some parliamentarians regarding the recent Cabinet announcement that public schools will hold classes and examinations for these two subjects in English from next year onwards.
"I'll give the analogy of a movie. The movie's name is 'Mission: Impossible' but the mission is actually possible. With all the equipment and planning, the objective is achieved at last," he said.
Mahadzir was replying to a supplementary question from Chong Eng (DAP-Bukit Mertajam) who wanted to know the effectiveness of the policy which will affect students from standard one through six to form one through five.
He said the objective to raise the standard of English among Malaysian students is achievable with the right planning and infrastructure, such as the establishment of smart schools with modern laboratories and electronic equipment.
Meanwhile, backbencher Mohd Ali Hassan (BN-Tebrau) in his supplementary question said although he supported the policy, he feared that the academic achievements of students, especially Malay Malaysians, would be affected as they would have to be examined in English.
He said to implement this policy on primary school pupils would not be a problem, but difficulties could occur when it comes to secondary school students who had been taught in Bahasa Melayu all this while.
Special committee
In response, Mahadzir said the government had initially wanted to limit the new policy to standard one pupils.
"However, if we only start implementing it on standard one pupils, it will take about 11 years [for them to reach form five and full implementation of the policy]. Therefore, we implement the policy across the board," he said.
A special committee has been established to monitor the execution of the policy and to make the appropriate recommendations on the matter soon, he added.
The ministry also revealed the numbers of foreign students in Malaysia in 1998 compared with present times. From 6,182 then, the figure doubled to 13,475 last year, with Chinese nationals and Indonesians forming the bulk.
Besides China, Mahadzir said, Middle East students are a potential market for Malaysian education institutions.
He said towards this end, Malaysian missions in the Middle East are supplied with brochures on the educational opportunities in Malaysia while at home, private institutions of higher learning are given incentives such as income tax deduction in attracting foreign students.
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