The Education Ministry has increased the number of English lessons in national (SK) and national type schools (SJK) to improve the standard of the language, the Dewan Rakyat was informed today.  

NONE While answering a supplementary question from Ab Halim Ab Rahman (PAS-Pengkalan Chepa) on efforts to strengthen English among rural school students, Deputy Education Minister Wee Ka Siong ( left ) said the time allocated for SK has been increased from 240 minutes a week to 330 minutes, while national type Chinese and Tamil schools have 120 minutes now, compared to 60 minutes previously.  

Another move the ministry took was to hire English teachers from abroad to assist language teachers in rural schools, he added.  

Responding to Ab Halim on the true reason for allowing teaching of Science and Mathematics in English, Wee explained that the ministry preferred to take a ‘soft-landing’ approach, allowing students who have been learning the subjects in either English or Bahasa Malaysia to fully utilise the respective language used.   

“We don’t want their performance to be affected. So we are providing a dual-language exam paper giving them a choice to answer in whichever language they’re comfortable in,” he emphasised.   

“Therefore this cannot become an issue as we always have the students’ best interests in mind,” he said.

In answer to another supplementary question by Ibrahim Ali (Independent-Pasir Mas) as to whether the move would conflict with Bahasa Malaysia being the official language, Wee said: “We have never left Bahasa Melayu behind, as it is a knowledge and communication language, and with proper understanding, I hope everyone can have a good command of the language.”   

The Education Ministry has always upheld Bahasa Melayu and even has a committee chaired by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak involving government and private agencies, he noted.   

He said, “The prime minister himself monitors the campaigns we carry out to uphold the Malay language and ensures the national language is maintained for all official purposes, in line with Article 152(1) of the constitution.”   

- Bernama