Is the government intending to bring in English teachers from India, questions PAS, which wants to know what will become of local English teachers deemed not fit to teach the language if this is carried out.

NONE PAS information chief Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man ( left ) posed the question in chastising the lack of any concrete plan to improve the quality of English teachers in the country in the newly-launched National Education Blueprint.

This, Tuan Ibrahim said, despite English being made a "must pass" subject in SPM examinations from 2016.

In a statement, he questioned if this was because the government planned to go through with a plan hatched during Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s visit to India last December to bring in a number of Indian English teachers to improve the  proficiency of the language in Malaysia.

“Now, how many Indian teachers will be brought in if the deal with the Indian government has been signed?

"What about their salary scheme? How long will their contracts be? Will they be given citizenship after a certain period?

“Will their entry oppress existing teachers? What about the fate of the 42,000 (70 percent) weak English teachers now?” Tuan Ibrahim asked.

He was responding to a report that 70 percent, or two-thirds of the 60,000 English Language teachers in Malaysia who sat for the English Language Cambridge Placement Test, were found unfit to teach English.

Tuan Ibrahim said the government should improve the quality of local teachers instead of giving job opportunities to foreigners, especially since people are being told to save in view of subsidy reductions.

“If it is untrue that teachers from India are being imported, the Education Ministry should come up with a plan to address the shortage of quality English teachers that we are facing now,” he added.