Maths and Science in Bahasa

Matt Siow 7/09/2009 0

The Government has decided to reverse the Teaching of Mathematics and Science in English policy and revert to Bahasa Malaysia in national schools and Chinese and Tamil in vernacular schools.



Asked why the ministry was not starting with a new cohort of Year One students, Muhyiddin who is Education Minister, said there was time to fine-tune the policy.

“There is still two-and-a-half years to prepare.

“Some members of the Cabinet made an observation that those in Form Four may be affected but that’s okay because we can still make changes so they continue their studies in two languages,” he said.

Muhyiddin said the ministry would do “whatever we can to make it as soft as possible for these students.”

“This is why the ministry is staggering the changes that will happen.

“It was quite sudden when the PPSMI was introduced previously,” he said.

The PPSMI policy was implemented in phases, beginning with Year One, Form One and Lower Six students in 2003, under former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s tenure.

The first cohort who completed six years of primary schooling and studied the two subjects in English received their Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) results last year.

Muhyiddin said that to ensure the implementation of the new policy did not affect the first batch (who started studying the two subjects in English in primary school in 2003), they would continue to study Mathematics and Science bilingually (in English and Bahasa Malaysia) until 2014.

He stressed that the reason for the reversal in policy was due to objective considerations and not political ones.

“It was based on empirical studies and other specialist reviews,” he said.

Based on studies conducted in 2008, he said, the ministry found that only a small percentage of teachers fully used English to teach the two subjects.

“On average, the percentage of those using English during Mathematics and Science periods was around 53% to 58%,” he said, adding that only a small number of teachers were proficient.

Muhyiddin said studies carried out by local universities found that students’ mastery level of English during the entire policy was around 3% while the level among rural students was low.

“Based on these observations, the Government is confident that Mathematics and Science should be taught in languages understood by students, which is Bahasa Malaysia in national schools, and Chinese and Tamil in the respective vernacular schools,” he said.

On whether the decision goes against Dr Mahathir’s vision, Muhyiddin said he and senior ministry officials had a three-hour meeting explaining the problems faced by those involved.

Other measures to strengthen the teaching and learning of English in schools include:


> Time allocated for English in Level One (Years One to Three) for national schools will be increased by 90 minutes to 330 minutes a week, while for Level Two (Years Four to Six) to 300 minutes a week;

> Time allocated for English in Level One at vernacular schools will be increased 100% from 60 minutes to 120 minutes a week, and for Level Two from 90 minutes to 120 minutes a week;

> Time allocated for English in Form One to Six will be added 80 minutes from 200 minutes to 280 minutes a week;

> Time allocated for the Malaysian University English Test (MUET) in Form Six will be increased by 80 minutes to 400 minutes a week;

> Time allocated for English in Matriculation will increase 100% from three hours to six hours a week;

> Laboratories for the learning of English will be implemented in schools; and

> Grammar will be emphasised in the teaching and learning of English.