DAP calls for Cabinet deferment of approval of the recommendations of the special committee to improve students’ performance in English to allow for  two-month public consultation and debate  so as to incorporate good proposals from the public

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Media Conference Statement
by Lim Kit Siang 

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The recommendations of the  special committee set up by the  Education Ministry in October last year include some radical proposals as giving students three SPM English  papers to choose from and allowing primary schoolchildren to learn at their own pace.  Other proposals include
 

• improving existing conditions of service for English teachers and providing them monetary incentives.
• bringing in foreign teachers and students to teach the language.
• sending teachers to universities abroad for training.
• formulation of better textbooks.
• A special institute to train English teachers.

Musa Mohamad said all recommendations made by the committee would be implemented.

While measures to promote a wider use of English and improve the teaching and learning of the language should be supported by all right-thinking Malaysians, it is a major flaw of the education planning process that there was no full public consultation, feedback and debate on the recommendations of the special committee before it was presented to the Cabinet for approval.
DAP calls for Cabinet deferment of approval of the recommendations of the special committee to improve students’ performance in English and to allow for  a two-month public consultation and debate  so as to incorporate good proposals from the public.

The Education Ministry should explain whether it had pinpointed the reasons why in the past ten years, it had failed to check the decline in the standard of English in the country, although the Sixth Malaysia Plan 1991-1995 had declared: “The teaching of English as a second language will be given greater importance in order to stem the decline in the standard of English”. (para 737).

The failure of the Education Ministry to stem the decline in the standard of English is reflected by the public examination results at all levels, as show by the following data from the report of the Second National Economic Consultative Council:
 

(1) Keputusan SPM 1998, Pencapaian bagi bumiputra dan bukan bumiputra

English          1&2         3-6         7-9
 
Bumiputera       3.4         19.9        76.7
Bukan Bumiputera 14.9        31.7        53.4
 

(2)  PMR 1997-Analysis Keputusan Mata Pelajaran

Peringkat (Percentages)
English       A         B         C         D         E

Bumiputra     8.2       12.3      15.5      21.8      42.2
Bukan
Bumiputera    22.6      17.6      16.6      17.5      25.7
 

(3) Pencapaian Pelajar Mengikut mengikut tahun bagi UPSR (English)

             1996               1997              1998
             % Lulus            % Lulus           % Lulus
        Pelajar   (ABC)    Pelajar   (ABC)    Pelajar   (ABC)

SK     329,319    53.6     344,402    54.0    355,667    55.5
SJK©   96,140     66.9     97,960     70.3    91,243     63.9
SJK(T) 16,126     51.8     16,094     46.8    16,803     45.1

If the Education Ministry is not prepared to ascertain the reasons as to why its programme to raise the standard of English had failed in the past decade, it is unlikely that it will be very successful in the next decade.

(18/5/2001)