Cabinet should establish special task force with Dong Jiao Zong representation to raise standards of English in Chinese primary schools without using it to teach maths and science

(Petaling Jaya, Thursday): The Education Minister, Tan Sri Musa Mohamad said yesterday that the  Government has yet to decide on the use of English to teach Science and Mathematics in Chinese and Tamil schools and that the matter will be discussed at the special Cabinet meeting tomorrow. 

Does this mean that the government has definitely decided on the use of English to teach science and mathematics for the national primary schools?

Can Musa explain why he is so stubborn in refusing to make public the Abdul Rafie recommendations on the teaching of science and mathematics in English  to allow for public feedback so that the special Cabinet meeting tomorrow can benefit from the public input before taking a final decision? 

Yesterday,  Musa took to task PAS for “politicizing” the use of English in the teaching of science and mathematics in schools, but UMNO and Barisan Nasional are equally guilty of the same sin, as otherwise, why should the special Cabinet meeting to decide on the Abdul Rafie recommendations be affected by the Pendang and Anak Bukit by-elections, to the extent the special Cabinet meeting  had to rescheduled  from before to after the by-election polling today? 

The precipitate  introduction of the teaching of English in mathematics and  science from next year, without any proper preparation or infrastructural support,  does not make any educational sense and is most likely to lead to the triple disaster of the collective  fall in the performance of national primary school pupils in mathematics, science and English. 

Musa said yesterday that with regard to Chinese and Tamil primary schools, all factors would be taken into account when implementing the programme to use English in the teaching of science and mathematics. 

He said these  factors include the shortage of English teachers, the rural and urban factor, science and mathematics being complex subjects, shortage of information and communication technology (ICT) equipment if this was to be used to help in the teaching of these two subjects and the shortage of electricity in certain schools. 

As far as Chinese primary schools are concerned, before these factors are taken into consideration, there must be a clarity of the basic concepts as to what is the purpose using  English to teach science and mathematics – whether it is to raise the standards of science and mathematics or to raise the standard of English. 

Is there a necessity to take such a drastic step as to change the medium of instruction to raise the standards of science and mathematics in the Chinese primary schools? 

The following data from the 10-year Education Development Blueprint (2001-2010) - kept as a secret document for the past 10 months completely inaccessible to the ordinary public and even Members of Parliament -  on the comparative performance  in the UPSR in 2000 in the three subjects by the national, Chinese and Tamil primary schools, does not support such a proposal: 

Jadual 2.6 

Prestasi Mata Pelajaran SK, SJKC dan SJKT dalam UPSR Tahun 2000

From these data from the  Examinations Board, Chinese primary school pupils excel in all the three UPSR subjects in English, Mathematics and Science as compared to pupils from national and Tamil primary schools. 

Chinese primary school Std. VI students scored a very high percentage of 91.2% in Mathematics and 83.8% science in the mastery of these subjects, and the onus is on the Education Ministry to convince educationists, teachers, parents and pupils that the introduction of the  teaching of English in these two subjects can further raise student attainments in  mathematics and science, and not the other way round - causing a drastic fall in student performance not only in mathematics and science, but also in English as well. 

There is undoubtedly a need to arrest the decline of standards of English in national, Chinese and Tamil primary schools, as highlighted by the low attainment of pass rate for the English language subject in the UPSR examination for the five years 1996-2000, as follows:

        UPSR  pass rate (percentage) -  English

                   1996   1997  1998    1999  2000

     SK           53.6   54.0  55.5    56.9  56.7
     SJK©         66.9   70.3  63.9    62.8  63.2
     SJK(T)       51.8   46.8  45.1    47.7  45.6

The use of English to teach science and mathematics is neither  the best nor the most sound  method to raise the standards of English in the Chinese primary schools, and this is why DAP  propose the establishment of an Education Ministry  special task force, with representatives from Dong Jiao Zong, to recommend measures to raise English proficiency among Chinese primary school pupils without jeopardizing their  academic performance in mathematics and science or affecting the character of Chinese primary schools. 

This is the decision the special Cabinet meeting tomorrow should take with regard to raising the standards of English for the Chinese primary schools – a special task force with Dong Jiao Zong representation to raise standards of English in Chinese primary schools without using it to teach mathematics and science. 

(18/7/2002)