Malaysia announced it will abandon the use of English to teach math and science, bowing to protesters who demanded more use of the national Malay language. Malay will be reinstated in state-funded schools starting in 2012, because teaching in English caused academic results in those subjects to slip, Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said.
The news comes after months of high-profile demonstrations by politicians and linguists, especially from the ethnic Malay majority, who say a six-year-old policy of using English undermines their struggle to modernize their mother tongue.
English was once the medium of instruction in most schools in Malaysia, a former British colony. Nationalist leaders switched to Malay less than two decades after independence in 1957. In 2003, realizing that poor English skills hurt graduates competing for work against people from other countries, especially neighboring Singapore, ex-prime minister Mahathir Mohamad launched a program to resume teaching math and science in English. Most other subjects are taught in Malay.
Your comments:
I agree with Phillip's comment. Some people say you're ignorant and poorly educated if you don't speak English. However, many English-speaking people from English-speaking countries are ignorant too, particularly when they are abroad.
Malaysians and Indonesians have to learn from the French. They managed to make their language survive in a world where English dominates. For me personally, the solution is to make our children bilingual or even trilingual. Learning a language is a step to understanding a culture. My children learn Dutch, English, French and Indonesian (since we live in Indonesia).
Helena
So the parliament only thinks about those Malays in district areas? What about those Chinese in the same areas who struggle in both Malay and English? And what if the younger generations want to find jobs in other countries? Will they speak Malay? What rubbish.
James
This is just ridiculous for a developing country like Indonesia or Malaysia to ban English applied in their schools. As we know, nowadays English is very important to us because it is an international language.
English is the gateway to world, so we can go to every country we wish, for instance, if we would like to get a job overseas, such as Australia, the United States or any country where English is a priority. It is the only way of capability that we should bring to them. So let's go forward, don't waste time-lear English.
Riss
It is not a good move. Regardless of your thoughts on the matter, English is the international language of business. If you have poor English skills, you are useless as far as international trade or even something as simple as tourism goes.
Both of these things bring money to a country and help that country, and its people prosper. That's not to say a local language is worthless; it's not. It's important to keep your own culture alive, but not at the expense of your county's future.
Mar Fred
Pity the school leavers who come here in the UK to study engineering, science, medicine, etc in English. Well of course, this won't be a problem for Malaysian nationalists wishing to learn in local universities and living and thinking locally. It would be like living under a nut shell.
Ignore globalization and the information age and focus on national competitiveness? The English language entry requirement (e.g. IELTS or TOEFL) is a big hassle for international students. We ensure that only those who speak, understand and write good English gets entry and earn a degree taught via the English medium.
Khadaroo
I think you have totally wrong idea of what is going on here. Everybody knows that English is the major lingua franca.
And because of that, under new policy, additional English language had been introduced i.e: English Literature and Communication.
Not forget to mention the current hours of English Language thought in school will be increase to two hours a day and five times a week and I think that is sufficient for a student. Student who are currently studying Math and Science in English doesn't have to worry as the policy is only apply to new student. You said, why on earth that we need to learn Tamil/Mandarin.
No one would ask you to learn Mandarin/Tamil. It is for Indian and Chinese student in Malaysia. Well at least the government did something for those minorities in preserving their own cultures/language. Not like some Chinese from other places who can't even speak in their own language.
Well, it is good to get a bigger picture, but it is better if those picture that you get no matter big or small, to be bright and clear.
Chan Kok Ming
