Education ministry’s DLP tidakapathy

 

The Dual Language Programme (DLP) was rolled out in 2016 to offer students a choice of learning certain subjects in English, but it appears to be running out of steam due to bad planning and implementation.

The issue could explode next year.

Education ministry planners and implementers, it appears, did not take into consideration the basic economic principle of supply and demand. Their failure to do so has created anguish among many students who had signed up for the DLP.

One major issue, for instance, is that students who follow the DLP in primary school are discovering that they have to fight for limited places in secondary schools offering DLP. These secondary schools make them sit for a test to see who gets into DLP classes, leaving many of them in a quandary.

As only selected secondary schools are offering DLP, the majority of those who had learnt, say, Science in English now have to suddenly do it in Bahasa Melayu.

That’s not fair. That’s not right. Children should not suffer for the incompetency of adults.

Most of us would be aware of the predecessor to the DLP called the Teaching of Science and Mathematics in English (PPSMI), which was introduced in 2002. The pet project of then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad was aimed at improving Malaysians’ understanding of science and mathematics so that they could help in the development of the nation.

Mahathir’s government felt it would be wise to teach these two subjects in English as most scientific study and research materials were in English. It would also improve English proficiency.

Like most education policies, it didn’t last, due largely to the politicisation of education, and in 2014, when Mahathir was no longer prime minister, it was abolished.

Two years later, the government decided to introduce the DLP, with 300 schools involved in the pilot project, to “Empower Bahasa Malaysia and Strengthen English”. The Dewan Rakyat was told in November 2018 that a total of 22,960 primary and secondary students had enrolled in the DLP.

With the DLP, students could learn Science, Mathematics, Information Technology and Communication, and Design and Technology in either Bahasa Melayu or English. Unlike the PPSMI which was compulsory, the DLP is voluntary.

The DLP was expected to improve students’ future employability and also boost English proficiency in government schools.

Schools which wanted to offer the DLP had to fulfil four criteria: (i) they had to have adequate resources such as books and learning aids; (ii) the school head and teachers must be prepared and able to implement it; (iii) parents must give written consent to the school concerned, allowing their children to take DLP; and (iv) the school’s Bahasa Melayu (BM) result in the SPM or UPSR must be equal to or be above the national average score.

The problem lies with the first and second criteria: There are not enough classes available for those who want to continue with the DLP and the number of teachers proficient in English and able to teach these DLP subjects is sorely lacking.

The DLP was offered initially to Year 4 pupils and later, in 2017, to Year 1 pupils.

Many parents who want their children to continue with the DLP in secondary school are now finding that this is not possible because of a lack of available places. Some of the students have been told to revert to learning in Bahasa Melayu as the secondary school they have been sent to is not offering DLP.

Parents of children who started DLP in Year 1 and who will enter secondary school next year are especially worried that their children will have to switch abruptly to Bahasa Melayu because of the lack of sufficient classes to accommodate all of them. One of them spoke to me and another sent me a message expressing worry shared by parents of children in the DLP.

Among other things, the message noted that: “While the implementation of DLP is rather visible in many primary schools, the pathway for these children to continue in DLP is vague. For example, Year 6 pupils of DLP may not be able to continue in DLP at secondary school because the DLP classes are limited. This means secondary schools do not cater to the supply of Year 6 DLP pupils to be placed in DLP classes in secondary schools.”

This raises the question as to what will happen to pupils who have been educated in DLP classes in primary but are denied DLP classes in secondary school.

The parents ask: “Are they (education authorities) turning a blind eye to the implications of limited DLP classes in secondary schools?”

Saying some unfortunate DLP students had been placed in secondary schools which did not have DLP classes, they complained: “Such a mismatch clearly indicates the lack of planning and management of the education system in Malaysia.”

They gave the example of SMK Jalan Bukit, Kajang, in Selangor which has only one DLP class – with 35 students.

“The school selected students for this class by conducting a special Malay Language and English Language test. Around 130 students registered for this special test. However, only 35 were selected for the DLP class. What will happen to the balance of 100 students who studied Science and Maths in English since Year 4? What kind of education experience are we giving our future generation? The impact on those students who got rejected from the DLP class is serious. These students will be demotivated as they will struggle to cope with the switch in the medium of instruction.”

This is just one example, but it tells you a whole lot about the way the DLP is being implemented. Tell me, doesn’t this smack of incompetency?

Next year, the problem will be acute because DLP students who have been studying Science and Mathematics in English for 6 years will enter Form 1. What will be the fate of most of these children if there are so few classes available for the continuation of the DLP?

Unless the education ministry moves now to rectify the problem, most of those who studied Science and Mathematics in English over the last six years will find themselves thrown into classes where they have to study in Bahasa Melayu.

Imagine the anguish, confusion and stress these young children will have to go through. Imagine the pain the parents have to go through.

Two important questions arise: Why didn’t the education authorities make available enough classes to accommodate pupils coming to secondary schools and why didn’t the education authorities train enough teachers capable of teaching in English? The DLP pilot project, if you remember, was started in 2016.

And it’s not as if the education ministry hadn’t been warned about ensuring good management of the DLP to attain success.

The Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia (PAGE) had continuously voiced concern about the DLP from 2015 when the programme was announced. It has been consistent in insisting that the education authorities carefully monitor the implementation of DLP in all schools and attend to problems that arise. It has consistently said teachers should be properly trained and be of sufficient numbers to conduct lessons in English.

Even in Nov 2020, PAGE president Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim, in hoping more funds would be allocated in the budget for DLP, noted that, “efforts to scale up the DLP seem to have taken a back seat since then (2016), although the programme has proven to be successful.”

In February 2020, National Union of the Teaching Profession president Aminuddin Awang, in talking about the PPSMI and DLP, said the DLP was “plagued” with problems such as the lack of teachers and insufficient classes to cater to demand.

“There are insufficient teachers as the old guard that taught PPSMI have gradually disappeared due to retirement, hence the Science and Maths teachers currently in the majority are those who are not proficient in English, but in the national language. We have problems even getting textbooks for Maths and Science in the English language.

“We also have the perennial problem of those in charge who are either powerless to address the issue or just not in sync with the programme as they themselves are not proficient in English. The upper echelons of the system are just not doing enough to even keep this DLP alive.”

Aminuddin also lamented that those in charge of managing or overseeing the DLP were not doing enough.

So, what do the education authorities have to say?

If education officials don’t get off their you-know-what, we are in for an explosion of anguish (from students and parents) and excuses (from the education authorities and government) next year.

I seriously think we need to educate our education officials and politicians not to be flippant with the lives of our future generations, and, therefore, our nation. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.