PPSMI: Muhyiddin has got it all wrong

Students' results in Science and Maths are improving yearly under the PPSMI system, says a Parent-Teacher Association.

PETALING JAYA: Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has no idea what he is talking about when he said there would be chaos if the teaching of Science and Maths in English (PPSMI) is offered as an option to the students, a Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) said.

Assunta 1 Primary School PTA chairman C Mahavishnu said PPSMI, the brainchild of then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, was mooted after careful deliberation on the needs of Malaysian students to face the challenges brought about by globalisation.

“Muhyiddin justified his decision saying children in rural areas are lagging behind due to PPSMI but statistics show that students’ results are improving yearly,” Mahavishnu said when commenting on Muhyiddin’s statement.

Muhyiddin reportedly said: “If we give parents this choice, it will cause chaos in our education system. It will be difficult for the ministry to plan whether a school will teach (the subjects) in English or Bahasa Malaysia,”

Mahavishnu said it is not wrong to offer PPSMI as an option, adding that parents had the right to demand and choose the best education for their children.

“Many ministers, including Muhyiddin, had sent their children overseas where they were exposed to English medium education. Why deprive our children of learning in English here?” asked Mahavishnu.

He also dismissed Muhyiddin’s argument that there was a shortage of teachers who could adapt to PPSMI, saying that there is an excess of teachers trained in PPSMI instead.

“He (Muhyiddin) is absolutely wrong,” said Mahavishnu who also urged politicians not to politicise the education system.

Assunta 2 Primary School’s former PTA chief Samsuddin Hamid said he wants PPSMI to be retained in national schools.

“It’s not about learning the language but acquiring knowledge as most scientific references and books are in English,” said Samsuddin.

He also said although there were hiccups at the initial stage of the PPSMI programme, its implementation is getting better yearly.

“All we need to do now is to improve the quality of our teachers,” he said.

Creating friction?

Samsuddin, a father of four, reminded Malay language nationalists that supporting PPSMI did not mean that parents had little respect for the national language.

“It’s all about acquiring knowledge. Even Perkasa had declared its support for PPSMI in its October newsletter,” he said.

On rural students being sidelined by PPSMI, Samsuddin refuted the claims, saying that Mara Junior Colleges (MRSM) are offering Cambridge O Level programmes in English to its students effective next year.

“And 90% of MRSM students are from the rural areas. If you can offer a Cambridge programme to MRSM, why discriminate students from the national schools?” asked Samsuddin.

However, National Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP) president Hashim Adnan defended Muhyiddin’s stand, saying that offering students the option to learn Science and Maths in English would create friction among students.

“The ones learning in English may think themselves superior to the ones learning in Malay. Surely we don’t want such a scenario to happen,” said Hashim.

He also said offering such option would be a logistical nightmare as extra teachers and classrooms would be needed to accommodate both groups.

“The government too will need to spend millions for this,” said Hashim.

To improve English proficiency, he said it was best that the ministry allocates more time to teach English in schools rather than retaining PPSMI.

“Besides, most Malays and Indians are not good in Science and Maths. It’s best that they learn the subjects in the mother tongue,” said Hashim.

On MRSM offering Cambridge programme, Hashim said MRSM students, being the cream of the crop, do not require too much assistance in their studies compared to those in the national schools.

“Imagine a rural student learning both subjects in English and he couldn’t understand it. How would he be able to ask his parents for assistance? I’m sure most rural parents are not proficient in English.

“Besides, there are only about 30 MRSM institutions in the country. You cannot use them as a model for our national schools,” said Hashim.

Tamil Foundation president S Pasupathy, on the other hand, said it was best for the government to bring back English medium schools, which were scrapped in 1975.

“We believe it would be best if students can learn Science and Maths in their mother tongue. However, parents should be given the choice to send their children to any type of schools they want,” said Pasupathy.