A tool for global advancement

THE Education Blueprint while comprehensive in its planning and direction, was basically silent especially on the issue of Maths and Science being taught in English.

It was stated that no more discussion will be entertained on this matter, but the statistics point out differently and thus this needs to be really looked into.

The promise of a transformation in educational achievement is exciting with the focus being on six student outcomes, such as knowledge, thinking skills, leadership, bilingual proficiency, ethics and national identity and all of these being achieved through the 11 shifts that will take place in three waves over a period of time.

However, concerns have to be raised based on the findings that although Malaysia being the highest spender in Education in East Asia, our performance in international assessment of student performance between 1999 and 2007 have shown that we have slipped below the global average in both Maths and Science.

In the “Trends in International

Having a good command of English, does not make one a good student in Maths and Science if it is taught in another language.

Maths and Science study” 18% and 20% of Malaysian students failed to meet the minimum proficiency levels in both Maths and Science.

In the programme for International Student Assessment for 2009, Malaysia was in the bottom third of 74 participating countries, well below the international average.

This simply means that our 15-year-old students were performing as if they had three years less schooling than their counterparts in Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong and China.

Hence while we have embarked on “improving our English skills and standards”, this alone is not enough to make our students excel in areas on engineering, medicine, innovation and technology.

These areas require a good command of English as they are best understood and taught in English, which is the basic instruction for global engagement in these fields.

Having a good command of English, does not make one a good student in Maths and Science if it is taught in another language because the information gleaned from all these books comes in the English language.

We have to really ensure that our children get the best and are exposed to the best there is in the world.

If the basic engagement in the global arena is English, then let us be bold and brave enough to have these subjects taught in the language.

Let us not make the teaching of Maths and Science a “tool” for politics and politicians but let us make the teaching of these subjects in English a necessary tool for global advancement and competitiveness.

MICHEL WRIGHT Batu Caves Selangor