Parents, teachers at odds over changing law to ensure English proficiency

 

PAGE chair Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim says the government can improve the English proficiency of teachers by offering scholarships to students with a good command of the language.

PETALING JAYA: Parents and teachers are at odds over the proposal by a Sarawak minister that the Education Act be amended to ensure that students are proficient in both English and Bahasa Melayu.

Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) chair Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim welcomed the proposal, saying it would be the “final move” needed for the government to honour its pledge of improving the proficiency of English among students.

“It is a brilliant idea. It is also feasible because many steps have been taken to enhance the use of the English language,” she told FMT.

Azimah said the government could recruit more professional English teachers by providing overseas scholarships to students who demonstrate a good command of the language, and requiring them to serve as teachers upon graduation.

Mak Chee Kin of the Melaka Action Group for Parents in Education also agreed with the proposal, saying it would help the ministry to avoid being labelled as inconsistent in its policies.

“Engage stakeholders if we are making any changes. It must involve the views of parents and in-depth studies by experts,” said Mak.

On Jan 24, Sarawak deputy education minister Dr Annuar Rapaee urged the federal education ministry to amend the Education Act to make it compulsory for all students to master both English and Bahasa Melayu, as well as their respective mother tongues.

According to the Borneo Post, Annuar said this would prevent education minister Fadhlina Sidek’s pledge to improve the English proficiency of students from ending up as mere “lip service”.

‘Blanket policy not feasible’

However, Fouzi Singon, secretary-general of the National Union of the Teaching Profession, said the proposal lacked “professional insight” and might lead to complications such as increased pressure on students struggling with grades.

He said the root problem was the failure of the national syllabus to encourage the use of English as the mode of communication in the classroom.

“In the new curriculum, the ministry must encourage students to work and speak with one another in English. If you restructure the curriculum, you tackle the problem (of low English proficiency),” he said.

Fouzi also asked if the ministry had the resources to achieve its goal, as only a limited number of public universities produce professional English teachers.

Meanwhile, Azizee Hasan of Ikatan Guru-Guru Muslim Malaysia said the matter was “not urgent enough” to warrant a change in law as many policies are still in place to enhance the mastery of English among students.

He said the best way forward would be to improve the implementation of the dual-language programme and send English language teachers for exchange programmes at foreign institutions to raise their teaching standards.

Azizee also said the amendment might run afoul of the Federal Constitution as it would place English “on the same level with the national language”. - FMT