Bloomberg notes that the government has been going back and forth in its policy on English for a decade.
PETALING JAYA: The Bloomberg news service today highlighted the Malaysian government’s flip-flopping on policies regarding the teaching of English.
In an article commenting on Prime Minister Najib Razak’s announcement of a RM135 million budget for the raising of proficiency in both English and Malay, Bloomberg writer Pooi Koon Chong noted that the government had been going back and forth in its policy on English for about a decade.
Poh wrote about an announcement last August regarding another delay in making an English pass compulsory in the SPM examination, noting that it drew criticism from the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM).
“The employability and quality of Malaysia’s human capital is at stake; and also the country’s efforts to achieve developed nation status,” Poh quoted FMM as saying.
The article also quoted a tweet by AirAsia founder Tony Fernandes about Malaysia’s loss of competitiveness because of declining English proficiency. In the tweet, Fernandes said it was time “to reverse decades of decline in English. Our children have suffered.”
But Poh also quoted Performance Management and Delivery Unit head Idris Jala in his defence of the August announcement.
Idris said the move was necessary because teachers and students needed more time. “He cited a competency assessment several years ago where 70 per cent of English teachers failed the Cambridge Placement Test,” Idris was quoted as saying. “The fundamental problem is we have been entrenched for such a long time on Bahasa. When you have the teachers not making the grade, surely you have fundamental problems.”
The article also highlighted a 2013 Word Bank Report about declining student performance in mathematics and science and deteriorating English proficiency.
Referring to Najib’s budget announcement, Bloomberg noted that the Prime Minister is maintaining the allocation for the Education Ministry. But it quoted a critic as saying, “It’s all about building schools but not about changing the curriculum.”
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