Education activists have voiced their concerns towards the idea of re-introducing English-medium public schools into the country, doubting its feasibility and value towards preserving national identity.

This comes after a recent survey which found that a majority of Johoreans polled supported bringing back such schools.

Malay replaced English as the medium of instruction in national schools in 1970.

Responding to the survey, former Gerakan Mansuhkan PPSMI leader Ishak Surin said it would be “unsuitable” to revert to English because national schools should reflect national identities and values.

“Sekolah kebangsaan (national schools) is about (preserving) bangsa (race) and identity.

“We are not English, we are Malaysian (and thus) it will be unsuitable if English was used (as a medium of instruction). I do not agree with it.

“We should not deify English... I would prefer it if we encouraged the learning of local languages like Mandarin and Tamil instead,” he told Malaysiakini when contacted.

The survey, conducted on 2,011 Johoreans, had suggested that respondents’ strong support for the idea was due to “their cognisance of the success of Singapore's English-medium national school system in producing graduates who are competent in English, and who are internationally employable”.

To this, Dong Zong (United Chinese School Committees Association) president Vincent Lau (photo) said other methods could be used to improve the rakyat’s standard of English because changing the status quo was not feasible.

“I don’t think it is possible to revert to using English in schools because you would have to change the country’s education policy to do that.

“Of course the best way (to improve our standard of English) is to change the medium of instruction to English but maybe other ways should be used instead,” he said.

Section 17 of the National Education Act 1996 states that the national language - Malay - must be used as the main medium of instruction in all schools except national-type schools.

Like Ishak, Lau said English was not the only important language as Mandarin was also an in-demand language worldwide. Furthermore, the standard of Mandarin-language education in the country was among the top in the world, he claimed.

“This should be recognised as an achievement and the government should not weaken its commitment to Mandarin education,” he urged.

More choices for parents

Meanwhile, Tamil Foundation spokesperson K Arumugam said he supported bringing back English-medium schools even if this meant “a drop in enrolment in Tamil schools” as long as the government maintained its commitment to vernacular education.

“I will support the reintroduction of English schools as it would benefit the English speaking community which regards English as their 'mother tongue’... and give parents who speak English at home the opportunity to send their kids there.

“However, for the majority of the Tamil-speaking Indians, Tamil schools are their cultural and linguistic identity with which they closely relate their generational knowledge of literature, art, music, religion and all other aspects of civilisational cultural knowledge.

“I will continue to advocate that mother tongue schools be maintained,” he said.

Yesterday, Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia (Page) said it welcomed the survey’s results and proposed that students who enrol in English-medium schools first attain the national average score in Malay to ensure the national language would be safeguarded.

Also in support of bringing back English-medium schools was Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Abdul Rahman Dahlan, who reasoned they were needed to improve graduates’ command of the language and their competitiveness in the future job market.