‘Move to English should be gradual’

> Association proposes phased transition and trials with non-critical subjects

KUALA LUMPUR: While there are growing calls for English-medium schools in the country, the Malaysian English Language Teaching Association (Melta) says that reverting to this medium would be best done in phases.

Its president Prof Dr S. Ganakumaran said reverting to English overnight may not be possible, what with a serious shortage of English language teachers globally.

“You can have pockets, or in the whole country you can have 100 English medium schools, but you cannot convert all schools into English medium. You do not have the people or teachers. Even teaching mathematics and science in English did not see the light of the day.

“We have to do this in a very practical and sensible way because we know that other languages are also important. We do not want to kill the other languages,” he told Bernama at the recent Erican International English Language training conference press meet at Wisma MCA.

He said the command of English among Malaysians is alarming as the gap between their proficiency and the demands of employers globally is widening.

On the way forward, he said the government could use English for non-critical subjects like civics, sports science and physical education to provide enough space for students to communicate in English.

“What could be done is to have some other subjects in English. They tried science and mathematics in English but failed. There was too much of pressure, but what is stopping us from doing other subjects?”

One could not learn a language if there was no opportunity to use it, he said.