Poor command of English among graduates worrying

KUCHING: Many fresh graduates do not possess good command of English and the trend is worrying.

Minister of Education, Science and Technological Research Dato Sri Michael Manyin said he was made to understand that many certificate, diploma and degree holders could not secure a job in the private sector because they ‘don’t know how to read the manual in English’.

“The first day, they came in to report for work. The second day, they worked on the manual and instruction. The third day, they quit the job.

“This is very serious because they already have the skills, as evidenced by their certificates, diplomas or degrees, but most manuals in multi- national companies are written in English. When they join the company, they can’t read the manual.

“When you don’t have command of the language, employers do not want to employ you because they do not want to risk losing money knowing you are not able to read the module,” he said at the presentation of Kuching Vocational College’s awards at its premises at Jalan Batu Lintang here yesterday.

Manyin thus urged all graduates to enhance their proficiency in English in order to position themselves better in the employment market. He added he was not asking them to neglect Bahasa Malaysia, which is being taught in all schools in the country.

“We must be realistic that English is very important in the world market. The global language of today is still English. If we are going to compete with people throughout the world, there is a need for us to master the English language,” he said.

He appealed to parents to emphasise the importance of learning English among their children.

He said this was also a reason why his ministry had issued a circular asking all elected representatives in Sarawak to adopt a school in their respective constituencies to improve the proficiency in English among students.

Manyin said through the adoption programme, students would be encouraged to speak English within the school compound. He admitted that English proficiency among Sarawakian students ‘ is too low’.

“We want to encourage our students to speak English. It does not matter if it is broken English because all we want is to build up the confidence of our boys and girls in using the language.”

At the function, Manyin pledged a RM30,000- government grant for the college’s parentteacher association.