The coping powers of Malaysian schoolchildren should never be underestimated because of their natural capacity for much more than what politicians think they can handle, said a prominent educationist.

Dr Ibrahim Ahmad Bajunid, former director of Institut Aminuddin Baki, a teachers training institute, said the new policy to teach Science and Math in English would work well due to the God-given capacity humans have to master more than one language.

He said it was a logical progression for India to achieve fantastic heights in information and communications technology (ICT) because their foundation in Math and English had always been solid.

Ibrahim also felt that a positive mindset and attitude can make anyone achieve anything, including the mastery of any number of languages.

"During the advent of ICT, India thrived because there is the element of Math in all science subjects just as much as there is the element of language in it," he said.

Policies never easy nor wrong

The lack of cognitive scientists in Malaysia for a more conclusive study into the effects of the new policy, he said, has hampered any attempt at providing certainty in policy choices.

"We were never ready in our history of educational development. We were never absolutely ready for the implementation of the various policies and programmes.

"But we went ahead on good faith and political will by the rolling plan, where we improvised as we went along. In fact, this applies to other fields too."

He related how he and his batch of freshly-trained teachers were forced to teach in Malay when they had just completed their training in the English medium back in the 1960s.

"I had to teach social sciences in Malay, just as my Chinese friends had to switch to Malay."

But Ibrahim insisted that such education policies need not be put to the test first as pilot projects before full implementation.

"Such things are not even done in Western countries," he added.

"Those who think that timing is sequential are wrong. It is done as a rolling plan, and this method applies to other fields too."

No implementation problem

S Radhakrishnan, whose views concur with the policy's detractors, believes that a solid English foundation should be a prerequisite to teaching Science and Math in English.

"It not only ensures smoother implementation, but also better prepares pupils for other subjects in English.

"Book resources are also not really a problem. The main hurdle is the training of teachers," said the former education director with the Malaysian Trades Union Congress between 1973 and 1975.

For vernacular schools, he thinks the best would be to start gradually introducing the English language as early as possible.

"The government should make a careful study and systematic implementation of the policy because proper planning is crucial.

"First, teachers must be properly trained followed by strong emphasis on preparing students in the proficiency of the language."

However, Radhakrishnan does not foresee any problems in implementing the policy as it is because there are available material for the two subjects in their original English versions.

Crash course for teachers

"As these books were only translated into Malay during the switch in medium of instruction, they are still largely available in their original form," said the 61-year-old former teacher.

"They are available in Singapore, for example, where they still use English books, as well as throughout the Commonwealth countries where the qualification is based on 'O' and 'A' levels."

Relating his experience during the switch from English to Malay medium, he said teachers were sent all over the country, including during the holidays, for crash courses to enable them to communicate and impart their knowledge in Malay.

Radhakrishnan, who taught for 13 years before resigning in 1975 to read law in London, advocated for English literature to be introduced as a main component in the new policy because it will help improve the standard of the language.

"Previously, all subjects were taught in English. Malay was only a single subject. In school, English literature taught us the richness of the language [from having] to read books regularly.

"We also had debates, elocution and reading contests, and plays," he said.

Former Universiti Malaya sociology lecturer Dr Rokiah Talib expressed total disappointment at the steady decline of English among undergraduates over the last 10 to 15 years.

"It has come to a point where even a simple joke in English cannot be understood," she remarked.

"I usually ask my students whether their proficiency level is above or below 50 percent, and I see most of the hands raised for below 50 percent."

Bold, good move

The 59-year-old grandmother, who had lectured for 30 years, said that, even lecturers had a poor command of the language.

She, too, was optimistic about the new policy and lauded it as a good move "although it is a bold one" by local standards.

On whether the policy will yield the desired results, Rokiah said it all depended on the implementation method and the type of teachers who end up in schools.

"I can see from the work of my grandchildren that, in schools today, English is being neglected," she said.

She added that poor English is not solely the problem of the Malays, but cuts across the ethnic divide.

"If the Malays, Chinese and Indians can get rid of the ridiculous idea that English will make them less ethnic or erode their respective cultures, then we can all progress together to a higher level."

Rokiah, who retired as the university's coordinator of the gender studies programme in 1998, proudly proclaimed that being English-trained, she felt that "it didn't make me any less Malay than I already am".