Much ado about PPSMI

The first language I learned as a child was Tamil. Before I was even fluent in my mother tongue, my dad started teaching me simple English at the age of four. When I was enrolled in a church-based kindergarten a year later, the basic English I learnt at home became handy.

Until I turned seven, I was never trained nor given lessons on mastering our national language, Bahasa Malaysia. Everyone at home only spoke either Tamil or English - after all, my dad was English- educated and my mum, Tamil educated. Dad taught mum a bit of English while mum taught dad to read and write in Tamil.

Although no one at home used Bahasa Malaysia as a language to communicate with one another at the time, we religiously watched local news in Bahasa Malaysia and were big fans of P Ramlee movies. Being exposed to Bahasa Malaysia indirectly, somehow I understood it - it wasn't a foreign language to me.

When I attended primary school, I began picking up on my Bahasa Malaysia. It wasn't difficult to learn my third language because everyone at school was using Bahasa anyway - most textbooks and homework were in Bahasa, and most classes and school assemblies were conducted in the language as well.

As my brothers and I spent most of our time at school, learning everything in Bahasa, we continued using the language at home too. Soon, Bahasa Malaysia became the preferred language for my brothers and myself.

Even when communicating with our parents, we would mix Bahasa words as much as we could. Conversations with mum in Tamil and conversations with dad in English became "rojak" (a mix) while we continued to communicate fluently in Bahasa among us siblings.

After leaving secondary school and commencing my LCCI (London Chamber of Commerce and Industry), I received a rude awakening - having the UK based system conducted entirely in the English language, I realised my English was in a bad shape.

I would read my English LCCI textbooks and my mind would automatically translate it to Bahasa Malaysia for better understanding. And every time I sat for my examinations, I would read the instructions in English, plan out my answers in Bahasa and then finally write it in English. It was a struggle, I kid you not.

When my children came along, I vowed to empower them equally with the three main languages which I thought were important - Tamil (our mother tongue), Bahasa Malaysia (our national language) and English (the international language).

Both my children started off equally well with all three languages they were taught at home - mastering Tamil, Bahasa and English with much ease. However, the moment they went into primary school, history repeated itself - Bahasa Malaysia became their preferred language - at school and at home.

The introduction of PPSMI in 2003

A year after the Policy of Teaching Science and Mathematics in English (PPSMI) was introduced, my daughter began her primary education. Two years later, my son joined his sister at Sekolah Kebangsaan Taman Desa, Kuala Lumpur.

I thought PPSMI was a fantastic initiative as it could help strengthen my children’s command of English. I mean learning three subjects in English compared to one during my time would clearly help them to improve their English – which, in all honesty, it did quite a bit.

While my children excelled in their studies throughout primary school, both in the Bahasa and English medium, their preferred language was still Bahasa Malaysia. After all, it was the preferred medium in school – not only every assembly and events at school used Bahasa Malaysia, most students and teachers communicated in Bahasa too.

Soon they showed disinterest every time someone spoke to them in any medium besides Bahasa Malaysia. Even when they were pressed to interact in social gatherings, it did not matter what language the others spoke, my children's reply would always be in Bahasa Malaysia.

As a mother, I was worried. I knew the struggle my children will face in the future if I allowed them to restrict their usage of English within the classroom walls. So I took them out for English movies, watched English cartoons and sitcoms with them, sent them to English based extra classes and made them take part in English based curriculum activities.

But still, every communication taking place behind the four walls of our home involving my children were still in Bahasa Malaysia.

The abolishment of PPSMI in 2012

When the announcement of the abolishment of PPSMI was made, my daughter was in Form 3 and my son, Form 1. I worried if the sudden change in the system would affect their good grades at school. Luckily, SMK St Anne’s Convent and SMK Desa Perdana where my children were studying, opted to continue teaching Science and Mathematics in English.

Both my children are products of PPSMI. Learning Science and Mathematics in English certainly polished their proficiency, but it did not make them abandon Bahasa Malaysia. While their fluency in Tamil is limited to ordering food at a nasi kandar restaurant, Bahasa Malaysia remains their strongest language.

English as a language of knowledge

I had a chat with my daughter briefly before I wrote this article and asked her views on PPSMI. My daughter, who is currently studying law at a public university, had this to say:

“My coursemates and I are all products of PPSMI. But unfortunately, learning Science and Mathematics in English did not help them improve their English as much as it did mine. While I was exempted from taking English classes during my foundation year in the university, some of them were stuck in English classes for a few semesters because they kept failing.

“Some of my coursemates struggle to do presentations and assignments, often asking me to go through their slides and notes to help them correct grammatical errors. It’s really sad because these are very smart students who still write ‘I likes you’ and ‘I wants to go to the libraries.’

“The sad thing is, at this point they know how important it is to master the English language but they struggle to do so due to the lack of strong basic knowledge in English. But some of them are determined to change that – they’ve even asked me and a few friends who are good in English to only communicate with them in English, hoping it could assist them in improving their proficiency in the language.

“PPSMI does not miraculously improve students’ command in English. Likewise, learning Science and Mathematics in Bahasa Malaysia will not improve students’ command in Bahasa. I have many Malay friends who went through PPSMI but are still struggling to express themselves in English, and I have many non-Malay friends who went through many lessons conducted in Bahasa throughout their school years and yet their proficiency of our national language is at a miserable level.

“So you see Ma, it’s not about the language you use in the classroom. It’s all about knowledge and how hungry you are for knowledge. As long as students are studying just to pass examinations and not to fully understand and master the knowledge, it doesn’t matter what language you use.”

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FA ABDUL is a passionate storyteller, a media trainer, an aspiring playwright, a director, a struggling producer, a photographer, an expert Facebooker, a lazy blogger, a part-time queen and a full-time vainpot. - Mkini