History
This was the catalyst that resulted in the birth of PAGE.
This policy which was implemented in 2003 underwent turbulence in 2008 shortly after the national elections as there were announcements from the Ministry of Education (MoE) that it would be abolished.
Every morning after 7.25 at SK Bukit Damansara, concerned parents mulled around deliberating this proposed change as they opined that the impact of abolishing a much lauded and needed policy would be catastrophic. This not just coming from parents who have big dreams for their children but also from the professionals who witness not just a lack of ability and capability to correspond in English despite the numerous A's scored in examinations, but a sad number of truly successful professionals in the fields of sciences and mathematics as the system of education did not enable them to become thinkers.
Pursuant to the then Minister of Education’s call on parents for feedback on PPSMI, PAGE was set up by parents of SK Bukit Damansara after its PIBG held an EGM on 13 September 2008 and had obtained mandate to appeal to the MoE to maintain with the current policy of PPSMI and, should the policy be abolished, to request that it be an exempted school, still continuing with PPSMI.
Participating Schools
PAGE then a meeting held on 20 September 2008 with parents from 60 schools around
13 schools from the Rawang area have also requested to be participating schools that will be allowed to continue with PPSMI.
Round Table Discussions by the Ministry of Education
Upon receiving feedback by the then Minister of Education, PAGE was invited by the MoE to present its findings backed by facts at the 4th Round Table Discussion on 21 October 2008. The half hour presentation tabulated the reasons that Science and Mathematics ought to be taught in English to our children.
The presentation also addressed assertions cast by opponents of the policy.
PAGE was again invited for the 5th Round Table Discussion for input of robust discussion on the policy on 16 December 2008.
Numerous press conferences, television interviews and appearances and also press releases and letters were executed from the time of its formation to current.
With the new appointment of YB Deputy Prime Minister as the new Minister of Education, PAGE had written several times to request for audience. That was never fulfilled due to the absence of response on the part of the Minister of Education.
PPSMI Abolished
The Minister of Education’s announcement on 8 July 2009 that PPSMI will be abolished was a very big blow not only for PAGE and parents nationwide who did not have the opportunity to be represented through PAGE, but also the children.
Outraged as parents may be as that tantamount to regressing the journey of our children’s education, it is a decision that all must live with for the moment.
Moving Forward – Exemption
Thus comes the inevitable, seeking an exemption for participating schools to continue, based on will and capability, with PPSMI.
PAGE holds strongly the notion that children who have potential to excel must NOT in any way be impeded by those who may need a bit more coaching.
PAGE needs the numbers for this to present to the MoE. The target is that by August 2009, data can be presented for due consideration.
To this, please make that choice as parents and provide PAGE with the feedback it needs.
For Our Children.
108 comments:
Good luck, PAGE. We will be supporting you all the way!
Can we start a petition. Make it online and viral. Target for 1 million signatures by end of the year. Be bold and publicise this.
Yes, I think its terrible the way the "other" vernacular group, ie, the english speaking families, have been conveniently sidelined. It's not like English is some minor language either mind you.
The Ministry SHOULD allow schools to choose, and we'll see if there is a mass exodus of students to these "English" vernacular schools.
I hope the ex PM, Tun Mahathir, can really intervene. The immediate past PM is of course, supportive of the abolishment of PPSMI.
I personally had written to NST about a year ago, echoing Zainul Ariffin's article stressing the importance of Math and Science in English. When are they going to get it through their thick heads that its NOT ABOUT LEARNING ENGLISH!
I totally support that schools should be given a choice to teach in English. My kids currently love maths n science because they are taught in English. We are an English speaking Malay family and we are worried about how our children will fare when the medium of instruction for those subjects are changed to bahasa. Nevertheless we acknowledge the importance of BM and understand why the decision to revert was done.
However, I do not agree that under this new policy, the mandarin, Tamil and Malay speakers end up getting what they want and those who prefer to learn maths n science in English stand to lose out.
I agree that english vernacular schools shd be established esp in the urban areas as i believe there is a huge nos of us irregardless if race who speakly english almost exclusively at home. We would like the choice and autonomy to decide the language our children shd be studying maths and science. If the teachers cannot be trained to teach maths and science in english, i fail to see how the resources can be used to enable them to teach literature which is so much more difficult. Katchu
HI. This is an awsome site =) parents certainly can connect together.
but on my thought I think Students who are going to be studying Maths & Science to make this decision for it to be in english or BM as it is Their future and they are the ones who is going to sit for exam not parents, teachers or the Gov officials so why don't they Let the Studnet decide for themselves they are F1-F5 they should know what they want. I had the privileged to study maths & science in english and I had enjoyed it. It's more interesting as my school teachers even showed me websites of research as they are all based in english.
Lastly, All da best in this site.
I feel we need to ensure and equip our students with the skills to read the latest information on S&T which are mainly written in technical English which is very different from literature.
My reason is that we are still a relatively small academic scientific community. To spend time on translating is a waste of time and energy. The time of academics should be utilised on researching and writing to journals. We must put Malaysia on the world map through our publications. Under the Shanghai Jhiatong citeria which stresses research related activities no Malaysian universities made it to the top 500!
Googled for the following chemistry terms (number of hits)
1.Form Five level : kovalen (20,900) vs covalent (2,600,00)
2.Year one university: ikatan koordinat (5,920) vs coordinate bond (3,020,000).
3. Third year university: kiub berpusat jasad (116) vs body-centred cube (67,600)
*No images were available for kuib berpusat jasad but for body-centred cube the numbers of images to depict it ...120,000.
I shall not even bother with terms in scientific papers.
So my dear Ministers please rethink the policy.
You are sacrificing the good students (they are also in the kampungs) at the expense of the weak and uninterested students.
Give the good and abled students a chance to continue in English!
It's simple really, math & science are the basic foundations to a vast majority of disciplines in tertiary education.
Teaching these subjects in the universal language of English allows any student to assimilate themselves with ease when they pursue their higher education, especially overseas. It's all in the name of uniformity and conformity.
I cite my own example. Having been educated in Bahasa Malaysia in these subjects, It was a personal struggle as the mind was in constant translation mode. Fortunately, I came from an English speaking family and my late father was educated by the British. During those late night father and son tutalage, dear old Dad struggled to translate for himself before he could even begin his tutoring and guidance.
The powers that be in the Department of Education should not impose their political ambitions unto our children and their education.
Let me state my position. I am totally and utterly 1000% against the abolishment of teaching Science and Mathematics in English. I am a parent of 3 National-School children, of which 1 will be affected by the recent ruling. I share the same anger, disgust and frustration with those parents who are against the ruling.
Firstly, I feel the Government has cowardly kicked all parents in the "you-know-where" and then ran away. There was no avenue for dialogue, discussion, feedback, ie. diddly-squat.
The useless bunch of political parties in BN and PKR, despite calling themselves the champion of the rakyat, were totally inconspicuous in their support or nay on the ruling. What a sorry bunch of ass-lickers and "jaga-sendiri by keeping quiet" politicians. Where are the MCA, DAP, Gerakan, MIC, PKR - the self-anointed champions for the urban voters, the main group affected by this ruling - when we need their support? At the very least, let us know where you stand. Or do you have no gonads to do so, knowing what the rakyat will do at the next election. What a sorry lame bunch, BN or PKR, both are the same, looking after themselves first instead of doing what is right.
God, please help this country to make the right decision for the future of our children.
Jangan perlekehkan pelajar luar bandar. Pelajar luar bandar juga ingin diberi peluang untuk berdikari dan maju. Mereka juga inginkan PPSMI.
PAGE Response to Minister's decision on PPSMI
GIVE PPSMI OPTION TO SELECTED SCHOOLS
Since the decision to switch to the mother tongue is to accommodate the rural students who have been made to appear to have ‘lost’ from the policy, the Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) wishes to request to the Minister of Education to consider the PPSMI option be made to schools that desire to retain the existing policy in the form of SK(PPSMI) and SMK(PPSMI). This fourth option has been glaringly ignored.
If the Minister is willing to accommodate vernacular schools, he should rightly do the same with schools that wish to maintain status quo who have benefited from the policy and are confident of the ‘intended objective’ being met.
PAGE will be formulating a plan of action for parents that desire their schools to have the PPSMI option. In the meantime, we request that parents nationwide including Sarawak and Sabah:
1 Indicate to us the name/s of your school/s that may want to maintain PPSMI; or
2 Ask their PIBGs to liaise with us through pagemalaysia@gmail.com or via this blog.
For Our Children
Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim
Chair
PAGE
It is a real shame that the Minister of Education has decided to revert the teaching of science and math to the mother tongue. It is even worse that secondary schools are not spared either. Ironically, there was no mention whatsoever of reverting the policy in secondary schools at any of the roundtable discussions last year. Even the representatives of Dong Jiao Zhong were quite firm that the teaching of science and math should remain in English in secondary schools. By 2012, all secondary school students will be taught science and math in Bahasa Melayu.
The only contention was at primary level.
The reversion fails the spirit of 1Malaysia. It appears that this decision will further split the races into their comfort zones. This reversion underestimates our rural children’s ability to learn math and science in English which will impede their access to the vast readily available resources in English.
PAGE wishes to comment on the reasons given for the switch of the medium of instruction.
That the rural students have not benefited from the policy is questionable. Referring to the UPSR charts which were presented at the 4th roundtable, although there was a slight drop in A, B and C grades for math, both rural as well as urban schools moved in tandem with each other. More significantly, there was a major reduction in the number of D and E grades in both rural and urban schools.
Similarly with science, although A, B and C grades stabilized in all schools, the reduction in the number of D and E grades was significant. This indicates that the students regardless of geography understand the concepts.
It appears that what was acceptable to the previous Minister six months ago has now been re-interpreted by the new Minister to justify the switch.
PAGE also wishes to clarify the Trends in International Math and Science Study (TIMSS) as quoted by the Minister. TIMSS is a study that is conducted once in four years on 14 year-olds. The last was in 2007 and before that in 2003. When the study was conducted in 2003, that batch of students had been taught science and math completely in the mother tongue. In 2007, the 14 year-olds then, on the other hand, had completed six years of being taught science and math in the mother tongue and two years in English. Naturally, the rankings would drop significantly as it did as the students had to deal with the transition period of changing languages. We are confident that come 2011, the 14 year-olds who will take the test will out do not just the 2007 batch but also the 2003 batch.
That the mastery level of English of local university students is negligible has got nothing to do with the teaching of science and math in English because the first cohort of students is only in Form Two.
Incidentally, the United Arab Emirates announced last week that their schools will be embarking on the teaching of science and math in English.
Total reversal to mother tongue fails 1Malaysia
The decision to revert the policy of teaching science and math in English in primary schools will fail 1Malaysia in its tracks even before it has started.
The Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) is concerned that parents’ views, the largest stakeholders have been ignored by the new Deputy Prime Minister/Education Minister.
The implications of this decision are many.
Chinese and Tamil students will now shy away from national primary schools. We saw an exodus of Chinese and Tamil students to national primary schools in 2003 when the policy was introduced. We will now see the reverse happening further polarizing the younger generation from each other.
The Chinese students will be even more immersed in their ideologies and culture and will continue to fail to integrate with the other races. These students will continue to face problems in the national secondary schools when they find that they are unable to communicate with teachers and fellow students. The drop-out rate will continue to rise and the social problems of ‘dvd’ peddling, ‘ah long’ and ‘gangsterism’ will worsen.
The Tamil masses will continue to remain reluctantly urbanized. Difficulties in integrating with other races will present itself in further violence and dark practices.
The Malay masses will continue to remain in their comfort zone forever waiting for the government to spoon-feed them. They will be under-exposed to the other cultures since there will be very few non-Malays in national schools, hence the Malays will continue to be ignorant and insensitive towards other races. They will also be unchallenged and look towards ‘rempitism’ for kicks.
And, last but not least, what is the mother tongue of the indigenous minorities? Not the national language, not Mandarin, not Tamil. So, where does this leave them?
Local private schools will further mushroom, widening the racial and socio-economic gap.
The politicians will continue to send their children and grandchildren to private schools, international schools and study abroad as the ordinary student m-asses fight like monkeys over a handful of peanuts given via so-called ‘scholarships’.
Politicians should not helm the Ministry of Education. They have vested interests. Realistic educationists should - realistic educationists who understand how difficult it is to clinch ‘that’ job with only the grasp of ‘one’ language and ‘no’ skills.
Parents should revolt. With this decision, our children will be disadvantaged. They will not be prepared for the challenges of globalization and competition. The ‘better’ jobs will go to the students who were privately schooled. Who cares for the m-asses?
PAGE does.
PAGE, which represents concerned parents throughout Malaysia. Unfortunately the government has tossed us aside.
Let the parents decide. Have all schools call a PTA EGM and let the parents come in droves and decide the kind of education they want their children to have.
Do not compromise with the teachers.
Do not compromise with the politicians.
Let the best science and math in English teachers teach at the English option schools and vice versa. And let us see where this leads to…
Berita Harian 11 Julai 2009
Terjemahan biar perkukuh bahasa Melayu
SAYA agak kecewa dengan keputusan kerajaan untuk menghentikan dasar Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik dalam Bahasa Inggeris (PPSMI) mulai 2012, namun saya reda.
Tetapi saya agak terkilan dengan laporan sebuah portal internet bahawa Sasterawan Negara, Datuk A Samad Said kononnya masih tidak berpuas hati lalu mencadangkan agar satu lagi demonstrasi jalanan diadakan supaya dasar PPSMI dihapuskan serta-merta.
Jika mengikut laporan portal itu, beliau kini seolah-olah dirasuk 'roh jahat' apabila sanggup melihat negara berada dalam kekacauan demi menjaga 'title' Sasterawan Negaranya. Apa lagi yang beliau mahukan?
Kerajaan sudah cuba untuk 'menurut' kehendak beliau apabila menghapuskan dasar PPSMI mulai 2012. Saya merasakan 'tempoh bertenang' itu amat sesuai.
Ia memberi ruang kepada pelajar dan guru untuk memadamkan satu 'perjuangan yang terbengkalai.'
Tempoh bertenang selama tiga tahun itu memberi ruang, terutama kepada guru PPSMI yang 'terhutang' menggunakan elaun PPSMI (yang sepatutnya digunakan untuk mengikuti kelas Bahasa Inggeris bagi memantapkan penguasaan bahasa Inggeris mereka) untuk cuba 'menyelenggara' kembali pendapatan mereka.
Justeru, dalam tempoh itu, saya mencabar agar Gabungan Memansuhkan PPSMI (GMP) dan golongan sasterawan termasuk Samad bersedia mencipta ruang untuk memantapkan lagi kredibiliti bahasa Malaysia sebagai bahasa berdaulat sebagai bahasa ilmu, bahasa komunikasi dan sebagainya.
Mereka bukan setakat perlu hebat berdemonstrasi menjatuhkan 'maruah' kerajaan tetapi harus bekerja keras memastikan bahasa Malaysia dapat mengadaptasikan ilmu daripada bahasa asing.
Selaras dengan hasrat untuk mendaulatkan bahasa Malaysia, mereka harus menyelaraskan satu organisasi yang mampu mengangkat martabat bahasa Malaysia melalui penterjemahan dan penciptaan istilah baru bagi menggantikan istilah pinjaman daripada bahasa asing.
Organisasi terbabit harus menepati piagam seperti organisasi penterjemahan di Jepun, iaitu setiap buku ilmiah yang diterbitkan dalam bahasa asing akan diterjemahkan ke dalam bahasa Jepun dalam tempoh hanya satu minggu berserta terjemahan yang tepat.
Organisasi berkenaan juga harus bertanggungjawab mencipta istilah baru bahasa Malaysia bagi menggantikan istilah pinjaman bahasa asing.
Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) juga harus ada anjakan paradigma dari segi kerja, bukan bekerja sekadar melepaskan batok di tangga, meminjam perkataan dan istilah bahasa asing yang dimasyhurkan menjadi 'Melayu.'
Seharusnya, biar seluruh rakyat Malaysia belajar semua kata dan istilah bahasa Malaysia dalam bahasa Melayu. Itulah kedaulatan namanya.
NORHISYAM MOHAMAD,
Pemuda Umno Bahagian Kuala Kedah
Dear PAGE
May I suggest that PAGE organises some "more" positive actions that parents can partake in to highlight the extent of the anti-PPSMI-Abolishment sentiment to the Government. Sorry to say, but writing in blog is more to vent one's anger and will do little if anything to sway the Government.
Dr. M is already running a blog poll - which is questionable as some may have voted more than once.
A signed petition by parents to be handed to the PM. A big public "get-together" of parents to sign the petition will be publicity fodder for the newspapers. Exactly what we need now, more publicity, and not to let the matter slide into oblivion, which is exactly what the Government wants.
Or a public hunger strike by "lots and lots of" parents to generate the much-needed publicity - CNN Singapore can be invited. We need to show the Government what the rakyat can do on issues affecting their children. Will Malaysian parents really do this for their children? I for one will be the first in queue.
Please, PAGE, do something to generate the much-needed publicity - that some parents object to the abolishment of the PPSMI. The pro-Government newspapers (you know who they are) are not printing ANYTHING on this at all. There seems to be a plan to "shutdown" the publicity on this matter and let it die a natural death.
Analysis of Proposed Switch
The rationale behind the switch is flawed. Even if we use the current Std 1 (2009) batch for the change, we are still talking about STPM/university education in English.
If we retain our LOCAL universities in English, what would be the point of doing so many years of secondary education in BM? The popularity of Pre-U (A-levels, SAM, IB) is because everything is in English. Those children unable to cope with the change from BM to BI at STPM level, will still be left behind. Those parents who do not have the resources for tuition will have their kid lose out. Education in English at secondary level allows the best and brightest to continue to STPM. A compromise would be to leave it in dwibahasa and let the schools where the majority prefer a particular language, to use that for teaching. The pupils will still have a choice in exams to answer in either language.
The switch to A-levels is tough even for English-speaking students because of syllabus, formats, way of approaching problems. To deal with language as well makes it very difficult.
Do you think the next move is to change tertiary education back to BM?
Incompetent teachers are bad in ANY language.
(Former lecturer in English, UM)
Charles,
We hope to garner support via this blog. A get-together would be tough what with police permits, etc and if it gets out of control, the last thing we want is to be termed a 'street demonstrator' making us no better than the other side.
Azimah
Berita Harian Khamis 9 Julai 2009
Mansuh PPSMI jejas masa depan anak-anak: Dr Mahathir
PUTRAJAYA: Pemansuhan Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik dalam Bahasa Inggeris (PPSMI) akan menjejas masa depan anak-anak, sekali gus menjadikan mereka mangsa kepada keputusan kerajaan itu, kata Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Bekas Perdana Menteri itu yang jelas tidak gembira dengan keputusan berkenaan menyifatkannya sebagai tindakan yang akan menyukarkan anak-anak untuk mempelajari dan mengetahui perkembangan dunia sains pada masa depan.
"Saya sedih kerana masa depan anak-anak, anak-anak akan jadi mangsa dasar ini," katanya pada sidang akhbar di Yayasan Kepimpinan Perdana di sini hari ini.
Time someone did something to make politicians listen instead of making motherhood statements. We are suppose to move forward, not backwards. In two years time Vietnam is going to be ahead of us and Korea has decided to go for 100% English by 2010. What does that say about Malaysia?
We are with you PAGE
Since the govt plans to have 13,000 more English teachers, why not train them to teach Maths & Science? Doesn't this sounds more logical than to abolish PPSMI?
We need to fight this, for the sake of our children.
PAGE? what is our next move? we need to move forward....petitions? gathering in front of PM's office? Register PAGE as political party for next election - am sure we can grab a lot of seats especially in the city!
IF BN doesnt want to listen, lets take it to parliment!
Totally agree in maintaning the teaching of Science & Mathematics in English. How else could we prepare our children for their future? My daughters were subjected to Maths & Science taught in BM in primary school and now in English in Secondary. They understand better and it's easier to remember according to the children.
Today the Ministry of Education sought the press to obtain feedback from stakeholders about cutting down subject hours in Science, Art and PE to accommodate the extra English hours.
The 13,933 teachers who will be recruited divided by 10,200 national schools isn't going to get very far.
This will be at a cost of RM5b of taxpayer's money, again.
Please comment.
Decision made by people whose children/grandchildren do not attend national schools. Those who can afford it will send their children to International Schools - I see a booming business... wonder who has interest in it? Need start petition to get results.
I say, I would be willing to call a truce if/ when they make Malaysian Education compulsory for all Malaysian - especially the kids whose parents are in the government sector! What’s your say?
Can anyone let us know which school does all the minister's kids/ grandkids go to?
I totally support that schools should be given a choice to teach in English. Bahasa Melayu never help us unless we work with Goverment dept.
To be globally competitive, PPSMI is the answer for now and our future generation. The current standard of graduates that we have is appalling and interviewing local graduates is a total nightmare! Excel in the English Language doesn't make you less Malay, Chinese, Indian etc...
If our population is like Indonesia i.e 270 million, well its obvious that their language stays relevant to the economy of their country but having only 27 million people in Malaysia...PLEASE LAAAAAA DON'T WASTE TIME! All my three school-going children support PPSMI!!!
Following the government’s decision to switch the the teaching of mathematics and science back to BM/mother tongue, I have immediately removed my children from the Malaysian education system. I am sure many parents are doing the same. Brain drain? So be it.
The Malaysian education system has been going downhill for some years now, but the recent decision to abolish PPSMI was the last straw. Although the switch will not take place until 2012, I am not going to wait around to see if things improve because the Education Ministry, which is helmed by politicians, has proven time and again that it cannot be relied upon to provide a sound education system for Malaysian students. I will not risk jeopardising my children’s future while waiting for the policymakers to get their act together.
I am fortunate that I can scrape together just enough funds to send my children overseas to study. However I still have nieces and nephews whose parents are not so financially able so they are stuck here. I am very concerned for them, which is why I will continue to care what happens to Malaysian education.
There are hundreds of thousands of Malaysian parents who are in the same boat – they want their children to have a decent education but are trapped in a system that continually ignores their needs. It is unfair, nay, it is absolutely CRIMINAL to hold back bright children from excelling just because the Minister thinks that some in the rural areas are not as capable. Does the Minister realise that he has insulted the rural folk by implying that they are not as intelligent as others?
The politicians in the education ministry must realise that we parents are voters too. Our numbers are significant. We are angry and utterly fed-up that our children’s futures are being destroyed by unjust, ridiculous and downright STUPID education policies made by idiotic politicians!
PAGE will be meeting a core group of PTAs and action committees on Saturday to brainstorm and strategise.
This will be followed by a formal meeting of all schools interested to go for the PPSMI option.
Please indicate your interest.
I am livid that the government has come to this. I am a Malay and a Malaysian, born, bred and educated here. I learnt everything in Malay, and finally in University Malaya, where I pursued my degree, We had lectures in Malay and did our tutorials in Malay. Textbooks were all in english. Most of us struggled with the translations. For my masters, i attended USQ (australia) and everything was in english. More translations, especially difficult with the technical terms. I can quite honestly say that my generation, that learnt in BM, are a generation that has been spoonfed, and have very little initiative to learn better compared to students from the rest of the world. We only know how to read and learn what is in the text book, most of the time we are unable to think for ourselves and take initiative to learn things for ourselves, esp if they are out of the syllabus. A shift to english was the first step in that direction. I mean, face it, the internet is in english, technology, medicine is in english, our children have a better chance of excelling if they speak and understand english well, especially the technical terms. I was happy to hear my children will not be going through this. Now, after all the adjustment for the teachers and book authors in Malaysia to english, the govt has decided to switch back??!!!
Even 3rd world countries like india and Pakistan realise the importance of conforming to the world's academic language... why can't Malaysia???
I am disappointed.
I am all in support of teaching Math and Science in English. This is not about language issue but of knowledge acquisition. Materials in English is plentiful in books and from the internet. Why should the development of the group who can excel in this language be deprived by groups that cannot. Be fair to the parents who opted for English. Allow a third alternative i.e PPSMI schools. Please do not politicise this and rob away our children of a brighter future. Thank you.
Dear PAGE
I called the MoE number today. It's just a PR exercise for them. They asked for your name (by the way, surname will do), tel. no. and whether you support PPSMI or not. Oh, come on, what's this??? No full name, NRIC no., which child, which school, which class, etc. needed for verification. Who are you trying to fool? A totally senseless waste of the public's time and effort. I was totally disgusted but I held back my anger against the "well-mannered and well-trained" telephonist, probably a call-centre, hired by the MoE to handle these "needed-to-listen-to" calls.
This will be one of many PR counter-moves by the MoE to appease the affected and displeased parents by appearing to do something, whilst time is ticking away and before long, it's too late for changes. We need something with more IMPACT NOW to tell the Government that THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE!
PAGE, please lead the way. Suggest something that we can do now to gain some publicity that WE ARE NOT ALONE in this fight. Beware, prolonged inaction will breed contempt, despite good intentions.
I'm a Malaysian born Chinese from a village. I strongly support Math & Sci in English, especially from secondary level onwards.
Please, give the rurals a chance to excel with more in English.
Thank you PAGE to let us have the chance to voice out. KEEP IT UP!!!
We need do whatever possible to defend Maths and Science to be conducted in English for secondary school.The implementation of resolving short term decision will affect the future of next generation. How can we compete internationally with lack of good understanding in English language? Let's be united in ensuring we win this battle!
Why do the politicians want to make education so difficult for our children? Is it because they can afford to send their kids to international schools or schools overseas? Perhaps we should make it compulsory for their kids to study in Malaysian government schools. Then perhaps they might see the urgency of doing right by our kids.
Many of our political leaders, community leaders and corporate leaders send their kids to international schools and schools overseas. Do they know something we don't?
In the eyes of the government if you advocate learning math and science in English, you are being disloyal and unpatriotic to the nation. This makes it an emotional issue, not a logical one.
Let's look at some facts. When our education ministry opened up our tertiary education, (i.e. pre-U, foundation programmes and university programmes in English), the whole private education industry just exploded. Malaysia has become an education hub and that we have students from all over Asia enrolled in our local private colleges and universities. This has spurred many peripheral businesses that benefitted Malaysians.
Where is the disloyalty or "unpatriotism" in that? Many Malaysians educated overseas are back and lecturing in these institutions and are doing very well at that. Isn't this slowing the brain drain?
Our local universities are not affected. Enrollment is still high to the point that we have to keep opening new universities.
Hence, we should open up primary and secondary education and allow it to develop as our tertiary education industry has.
Give us that choice in the democracy that Malaysia is.
This has been my observation having taught for 23 years (10 of those years in colleges).
Blaming rural M & S teachers for students' poor mastery of English is pathetic. Rural students are not only weak in English but are weak across the board in every subjects. One just need to compare the rural schools results with the urban school results to confirm my observation.
Are we to blame teachers of BM, Sejarah , Kemahiran Hidup , Geografi etc too?
I am very surprised that the NUTP president also agree with this myth.
Being a Math teacher in rural school for more than 17 years, i can only say that real reason why rural students are weak in all subjects is because of their lackadaisical attitude towards their studies and schooling.
Rural students depend totally on the teachers to learn the few English words and are too lazy to read English books, newspapers or even watch English movies on TV.
They have no sense of urgency in their studies and refuse to view learning something difficult as a challenge to make them better and stronger.They refuse to speak in English and for those who tried to converse in English, they are being made fun of.
I spoke to a few rural parents and found out that their attitude is appalling as well. They are only satisfied with the minimum - as long as their kids are able to be promoted to the next year of school, they have no complaints.
In contrast, city kids do not depend solely on their English teachers to master English. They learn English from many sources - books , newspapers, magazines , TV , the Internet etc.
Urban parents have a different attitude from the rural parents. They are always trying to make sure their kids are achievers by constantly monitoring their kid's results and by providing resource materials.
Bear in mind that every year the creme de la creme of graduate teachers are being recommended by their lecturers to serve in the rural schools. The rural schools are getting the best!
I am a rural secondary school Math teacher. I dare say i have a good command of English yet my students are not achieving results comparable to city kids. Am i to be blamed?
Though I am in favour of retaining the current practise of math and science in English, I will leave that decision to those who make it. But I can't help but noticed and wondered if anyone else does too at how RIDICULOUS the recent decision to require children who has studied the two subjects in English for ALL THEIR SCHOOLING LIVES then revert to BM in 2012 to do their SPM in Malay in 2013. I mean what kind of decision is this? A quality one? What kind of logic is this? Did they really think it through? Isn't is better to at the very least let a course finish before changing course again. I just don't get it! Sigh.
It is a really sad and very dissapointing at the current change of the eduaction system.
It seem the gov't is just playing with our education system. First of all, after more not 20yrs, the BM is still not a mature language. The spellings of many BM words are had been of inconsistency.
eg
Mathematics = Matematik(Ilmu Hisab)
Geography = Geografi(Ilmu Alam)
Family = Famili (Keluarga)
Budget = Bajet (Belanjawan)
Extra = Ekstra (Tambahan)
College = Kolej (Maktab)
Message = Mesej (Pesanan)
Product = Produk (Keluaran)
Frankly I find it is more of a joke!! Why not just study in English!!
We should look at Singapore as the example! Why can our Gov't just provide choice to the people by having the English medium school?
We the urban folk, the tax payers are punished because of the rural folks. Our kids who have the potential to excel must NOT be impeded by those who need more coaching.
English is our mother tongue so let our kids learn maths n science in English.
They (the ministers) children and grandchildren will be the first one to withdraw their loves ones out of the current school and send them to international.
I will speak to the Principle of SK Kg Tunku, PJ where my son is attending yr1. I intend to meet with her today to request activating SKKT's PIBG to gather feedback from as many, if not all parents and compile it. My casual enquiry from few parents thus far had 100% agreeing with PAGE.
Keen to get something done ASAP, I had started a discussion "Can we do something about latest switch in teaching Maths & Sains?" at SayaAnakBangsaMalaysia.
http://groups.google.com/group/sayaanakbangsamalaysia/t/e66db02f2e0a4a3d?hl=en
However I believe PAGE would be a very effective vehicle to carry this cause.
A very very concerned parent.
BH Toh
Resident of SS4, PJ
If the G wants to do it in BM, i think our future generations will be having difficulty to get into globalization. Who else in this world use BM? we can't even get currency exchange in most countries. But S'pore currency is easily exchangeable.
It is time to change or else we will be left behind. What is the point having in BM and all those key words use in science or math will be adopted from English words? Imagine what BM word to use for Differential Equation, Integral, Engine Combustion, Otto Cycle…etc.
Pls wake up! We are not living in this world alone. Even western countries are taking up Chinese too! Change is needed now!
Please change back to English. I don't think it is at all difficult to learn English. These kids absorb things like sponges. I do acknowledge the fact that many teachers are incompetent. If the problem lies on teachers, please mitigate this problem. I am not sure how these teachers are trained in English; were they trained in Scientific English? In Science, English words are repetitive and factual. So, if the teachers are taught the concepts, it will not be difficult at all. Perhaps there is a flaw in the training courses given to the teachers.
Well done all ministers/politicians once again. Feed the rakyat crap, send your children overseas. Make as much money as you can while you are still there. Malysia has lost all hope...
We are an English speaking family but I send my son to a Chinese school so he can learn other language. There he learnt Maths and Science in English and Chinese. But to revert back to the old system, it is gonna be a hard work not only for the Teachers but for the student and parents as well. Why not just stick to the original and current system? why have to make a drastic change? why don't we get all retired English Speaking teachers back to teaching again. We should go forward not backward. Malaysia Boleh!!!
Enough have been said about why English especially teaching science and mathematics in English is important to our beloved country.. The argument of the antagonists to me boil down to saying that learning science and mathematics is easier if done in the mother tongue because it is easier learning less. There is, for instance, no need to learn another language and more importantly there is so little of the 2 subjects in the mother tongues. Hence we will all be comfortable with our mother tongues and be proud Malaysians.
But the sad and incredible thing would be if after spending so much resources to change from BM to English we should now decide to flip-flop and revert to the old way.
I’ve always told my children how important it is to master the national language but they deserve the most efficient language tool for being competitive in the globalised world!
I definitely support to reinstate the PPSMI, the world is recognising English as the most commonly used language in both education and commerce. More importantly as our children reached for the pre-U and university level, majority of the references will be in English. It will be too late to start teaching Science and Mathematics in English at that secondary school stage because they may not be familiar with the terminology.
Can the Ministry assured us that by increasing the English language capability, this would improve the understanding of such subjects later? I doubt so. I personally has experienced this when I first entered into the local university in 1990s. All the main references are in English and I have to struggle throughout my first and second years to familiarise with the terms and jargons. During the 1970s and 80s, the English standard then is relatively much better than now, and yet I was still facing that challenge.
Why do we need to revert back to the old system which is not effective? The goverment should need to be forward-looking for the entire Malaysian and not because of some rural folks. How do we expect the rural folks to improve, if they continue to be protected and not stand to challenge.
I suggest going to Ministry of Education website www.moe.gov.my and send your feedback on PPSMI.
Encourage all your friends to do the same. The more the merrier. Flood their server.
I am 16 and I go to a national secondary school. Having studied science and math in bm at primary level and now in english at secondary level, I find learning these subjects in english is much easier.
I feel science and math should continue to be taught in english in secondary schools.I am 14 years old.
The PTA of SMK Seri Hartamas with the support of the school administration will be writing to the Minister of Education seeking an exemption for the teaching of Science and Math to remain in English.
Read Starbiz, page B2, about how stunned the corporate circles were upon hearing of the decision to revert the policy to mother tongue!
Malaysia should move forward, not backwards! Reverting to BM might ease the pressure off some students in their primary and secondary school years but will be an extra burden to them when exposed to all the English terminology when pursuing their higher education.
I support 100% the teaching of M&S in English! My younger son would be in Form 2 when the transition begins. I can't imagine the horrific time he and I have to go through... I also support idea of giving the school the choice to make their own decision on the preferred teaching language for such subjects! Go forward, not reverse! Time to wake up Edu department decision maker!
I am supporting PPSMI solely for the selfish reason that I want my children to have a bright future. We should not allow this regressive turnaround based on selective interpretation of statistics and the need to please certain groups hinder the strides that have been made towards realising the importance of English in our education system. Teaching Maths & Science in their source languages makes so much sense~ it does away with the overhead of translating, the essence is not lost in translation and most importantly it equips our children with the skills to tap in ready knowledge on the subjects from global sources. Our children simply deserve the best education policy!
Hi All,
I am parent with a son in Sekolah Sri KDU.
Sri KDU will be holding a forum on this matter on July 25th, 2009.
Could someone from PAGE let me know what needs to be done so that i can get the parents & hopefully the school to join PAGE in getting the school to be exempted from reverting back to BM for Sci & Math.
Cheers ... David
It's totally insane to change Science & mathematics back to BM. Malaysian Youths will be outclassed for the globalization and economy growth. Our country always criticized that western culture will adapt bad influence for the students but education wise they are way ahead then us. There're many ways to enhance BM but this is not the appropriate way to do so. Literally we are "shooting ourselves in the leg”. Yes indeed most of Malaysian students are not at the average level of profanely, BUT PPSMI just started 6 years ago. Do fruits grow when you just planted the tree for 6 days? 6 years are not long enough to prove students can’t cope up with their studies. It will be a tough start for any situation in the beginning. Nothing comes easy. If students can’t adapt the English education in their young age then how to cope with the globalisation in the future. Its wrong to quote that student can’t manage their English education and therefore CHANGES to be made. Malaysia economics growth is WAY behind compare to other ASIAN countries, not to include the western country.
What’s the prerequisite for younger generation to compete in the future? Definitely education base that is similar with others. Obviously it is very hard to satisfy everybody. I'm doubtful a thorough study had been made prior to this decision. There's should be a study or poll at the school level through PIBG to find out parent's opinion. A simple poll conducted by our highly respected former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohammad indeed shows that more than 80% reject the abolishment of PPSMI. Now when all the schoolchildren had comfortably adapted to the current system, it's changed again. Our kid are victimized and become experiment tools by the government. I have 2 school going kids, in Std 5 and Std 3. When this policy change my elder kid would need to switch to Maths and Science in BM when he reaches Form 4. This would certainly affect his grades in SPM. When he goes to college or university, it’s back to English! Like him, thousands of kids would suffer similar fate. The government has spent millions for the past 6 years PPSMI and results in the UPSR, PMR, SPM and STPM examinations have indeed shown positive results. However now it seems in the recent survey shows that more than 10% primary and less than 20% secondary teachers have reached proficiency in teaching Maths and Science in English. The problem here is with the teachers, so why make our kids suffer. Like mentioned by our highly respected former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohammad, why can’t the government take the necessary steps to improve the proficiency of these teachers? If the data obtained from the government show that there is gap between the rural and urban students or teachers then the government should indeed fix it. The gap should be bridged by increasing the proficiency level of the former and NOT making decisions that would jeopardize the latter group. We should be moving FORWARD and not backwards.
If indeed the Government in the efforts to ‘save’ the national language, then make the switch from Std One onwards and NOT in the between standards (Std 4) and forms (Form 4) as this will surely disrupt the students understanding of the Mathematics and Science terms thus effecting their performances. The switch for Std 1 could even start next year!
Good on you, PTA of SMK Seri Hartamas! Someone has to lead by example. I have 2 girls there but they are not affected by the new ruling. Please keep us posted on the outcome.
Now, we need to get the SK and SMK schools to do likewise. I will talk to the HM of SKBB about following the path of SMKSH. I have my youngest child, who is affected by the change, in that school. Can someone in the PIBG SKBB enlighten us whether something is being or going to be done? Thanks.
I just hope someone in the MoE reads all the comments posted in this blog. No matter which way you go, it all points to teaching of the two subjects in English if we want to progress as a nation. But what can we expect from cunning politicians and decision makers who prefer to see their rakyat become dumb and backward so that they can continue to lie and cheat them for generation to come. But remember you cannot cheat everybody all the time O.K. I pray that Almighty God help our decision makers and politicians make a wise and logical decision.
Peace!
I totally agree with those who supported the PPSMI . It is indeed too early to say that Maths and Sc taught in English has failed. The decision made by the policy makers are just conjecture as one can see that many parents with young children and educationist have supported Maths and Sc in English. We don't want to have "Jaguh Kampung" only..we're heading toward globalization and to achieving Wawasan 2020. If the policy makers keep on making U-Turn how can our children the future leaders cope with this globalization if they don't know or can't master English. Indeed it is a stupid move. Our children suffer because of the policy makers who probably have children and grandchildren who don't study in Malaysia...
PAGE, we support you. The government is playing with the future of our children. We want science and math to be taught in english, because we have to be ahead of the rest of the children of most parts of the delveoped world. if we do this, we will forever be playing catch up. as it is the state of our education system is in doldrums. standards are lowered to churn out 'graduates' who cannot obtain jobs because they cannot string a sentence in decent english. even the chinese children from the vernacular schools only know mandarin and s mattering of bahasa, but zero english. they have no confidence. this is what the chinese educationists and MCA is fighting for? please, we the english educated parents are also malaysian citizens, and unless the government wants to force us towards private education or sending our children away for secondary education, then i think the government should stop malenting about brain drain because YOU are the cause of it
Hi
Why is there such importance to teach maths and science in bahasa when these subjects would not enrich the command of the national language. If you want to enrich someone's command of language, pls introduce the language literature. Leave maths and science alone. They are a different scope altogether. I would like to suggest to the Education Minister to please look at the effect of globalisation to prepare the young generations. Let's look at our neighbour, Singapore. We surely aren't preparing them to be competitive as they would be struggling when they leave the shores of Malaysia with their limited command of English.
sorry, the last sentence above was supposed to read like this...
"the government should stop LAMENTING about brain drain because YOU are the cause of it"
please PM &DPM, do the decent thing, and give us the option of having affordable education in english. we are law abiding citizens and our children, the urban & english speaking parents and children have rights too.
i believe, we are the silent majority, who never expected the government to go backwards. now, we have to speak up and hope our voices are heard
I am 12 years old. I will be affected in Form 4. I think it's useless to change Maths and Science in BM when I'm Form 4 because I will only be learning it for another 2 more years! And, the Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia (KPM) do not ask the students for their opinions. I think that the students should "voice out" what they want to say. Maybe, just maybe, the KPM people will change their minds and change Maths and Science back to English. :)
Chor said:
It is unfortunate that our government just cannot decide on the best educational system and kept changing and I almost lost track of how many times they wanted to change. This is frustrating and this round we parents need to voice out as it concerns our kids future.
So as a demoncratic society and also as 1-Malaysia, pls do listen to people's concern on demolished English language for Science and Maths subjects. It is really a bad move against the world education trends and also developed our "Future Malaysian"
the move to change teaching maths and science in bahasa shows stupidity has no limit.
I am in Form 1 now and will be directly and severely affected by this. It is utter nonsense to switch to BM when I go to F 4 ( in 2012)and F 5 (in 2013). At the very least for the sake of continuity, please maintain it in BI for the current batch of students. Our future is at stake.
The source of the problem is teachers who can't speak English well. Deal with that problem. Don't throw out the baby and the bathtub just because the water is cold. Even if it means hiring foreign teachers who can speak English better. Let these teachers learn to shape up or ship out. Why? As teachers, they should never stop learning but to espouse learning as a lifelong process. It may be English, technology, etc so, when teachers stopped learning, they should also stop teaching.
Even though it is our responsibility as parents to educate our children to love our country and be proud of our language and heritage, we have to face the fact that English is a universal language. Therefore, allowing our children to be proficient in English should not be thought of as an insult to our mother tongue, but rather as a means of producing wordly citizens that can make our country proud in countless of ways.
As a parent, I look forward to witnessing the greatness our children have in store for the future of our country. It is our responsibility to prepare them in the best possible way.
I am not in favour of reverting to the medium of instruction to Bahasa Malaysia in the teaching of Science & Mathematics.In the globalized world, its inevitable to acquire current real time knowledge without being proficient in English. All knowledge generated through internet n research are first available in English and translation to other language is tedious and takes a lot of time.It is my contentions and suggestions that at least the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English are maintained at secondary level. Furthermore, we should separate politics from education. Any form of political pressure should be dealed separately. It is similar to mixing politics with religion which end of the day damages the nation.
The 2 topics were taught in BM for about 30 years. Switching if for 5-6 years to English did not make much difference (so they say).
That in itself already says which is a better medium.
I personally don't think English rules supreme in any scientifically/technologically advance nations : how do these nations viz. Russian, French, Mainland China, Taiwan and Japan (Anglophilic India is an exception) shoot their satellites into space . Anyone remembering them counting down in ...5..4...3...2...1..FIRE !!?
They all use their own language to develop their space program.
Use of English in trade/commerce/aviation universally, I agreed but not science or maths .
I would think brush up the skill of reading, writing and speaking English makes more sense than TEACHING Sc/Maths in English.
We should import proficient English teachers to address the shortfall of local teachers.
So let our parents choose whatever mother-tongue school they prefer, but the teaching of English and Bahasa must be mandatory.
Now you see it is a BIG mistake to abolish English school because of narrow xenophobic nationalistic language policy of the government!!
I missed those days where all types of schools were around to be chosen.
Diversity is good and makes the country more competitive!
Can PAGE publish the list of the 60 schools in KV/Selangor and 13 schools in Rawang?
My children have friends of various races in their school which we don't normally see in vernacular schools. I wouldn't have sent them to national school if both science and maths were not taught in English.
The government is back pedaling our education policies by reverting back to BM. They will miss the opportunity to unite the people of different races from young, rob people young and old of their dream to have their preferred education. At least, they should allow those who are willing to continue what they have started. I am sure, we will see the results i.e. tangible and intangible in the near future.
SK Yeoh ( Penang )
who cares : our 'children' will NOT gagal in their maths/sain in inglis !
the teachers cant use good inglis to teach maths/sain in 'their' melayu
inglis !
Reply to
Anonymous July 16, 2009 4:05 PM
So do you think our children should learn M & S in Japanese, French, German or Mandarin as these are advanced nations with their own languages?
Oh yes don't forget to include good old USA and the good old English language.
PM Najib despite much doubt cast upon him initially performed well.
As a professional working in the financial sector, I truly appreciate his initiatives like doing away Bumiputera 30% equity holdings, relaxation of foreign ownership of fund houses etc.
I lauded his every move when he noted the great need to revamp NEP and doing away the many hurdles like getting rid of FIC etc. Indeed, it did go down well with foreign investors wanting to invest in Malaysia. 3 weeks ago, I was in invest Malaysia forum held in Shang Ri La Hotel where he officiated. Fund managers, bankers and foreign investors alike were delighted at the reforms and commended on his bold moves....
However, his wisdom lasted till the 100th day... when he announced the reversion to BM for teaching of science and maths! I was so disturbed by it. How can our PM be so short term minded and dumb to agree to such reversion?
He doesnt seem to appreciate his days in St John when everything was in English when the standard of education was at it best. Perhaps, he could not be bothered after all his family members like his younger brother, Nazir Razak, group CEO of CIMB was actually educated in Alice Smith International School. His children were sent to Washington and UK to further their studies despite claiming Malaysia education system is world class and local universities have produced doctors educated entirely in Malay.
I have experienced our entirely Malay educated doctors who could hardly utter a word of English and literally took a pencil to test my pulse! World class education system, my foot!
For the ordinary Rakyat, please support our Sekolah Kebangsann. Bahasa Jiwa Bangsa!
We are parents too and are with you.
Can we have a direct link to Tan Sri Muhyuddin's email so that we express our outrage at the flip-flop style of addressing issues. We want Math and Science to be taught in English from Standard 1 to Form 5.
As a student,I wish that it will be in English. What will happen if u are going to others country college and need to be good in english???So... better stick in english.
i am a victim of this education system of Malaysia, i started my form 1 in 1973 amd there was the year the government changed few subjects into BM, as a chinese edcuated student, i have real difficulty in mastering three languages and was given me a tough timw when i was studied in USA. Now, My daughter who is in form 1 this year is suffering again, i cannot image how this government can come out with such a irresponsible decision just to please a group of people in this country. what is the future for our children in this country ?
If I have to express my feelings at this very moment, I must say that I'm really angry,frustrated and disappointed at the unwise decision made by the Ministry of Education reverting to the teaching of Science and Math in BM. Every parent I asked was against this thoughtless decision.
I know my view here will draw flaks from all corners in this space. While the decision to reverse eTeMS (or PPSMI as you prefer to call it here) still leaves much to be desired especially its reversal at secondary level (which is a still debatable decision), I am all for teaching of maths and science subjects in vernacular languages at primary level. For the general good of most pupils it should be reversed to vernacular languages while at the same time enhance the teaching of English languages in all schools (which the cabinet actually have decided to do though details is still sketchy other than the number of additional class minutes and the budget proposed). This I feel is the better way to improve the standard of English language of our pupils. I find it strange that most people who articulate objection to the reversal of eTeMS policy seem to gross over or ignore this fact.
Mind you, even in urban areas where you are from, there are still a large number of pupils whose command of their mother tongue (this I do not mean those of you who consider English as your mother tongue) is much better than any other languages they are still learning. Can you imagine how difficult it is for primary students who barely understand English having to understand the concepts of maths and science in English? Do you think in such way they can improve their English ? Come on! leave the teaching of English language in English language class and let our children learn maths and science in the language which they are most comfortable with.
BTW I am a graduate in Engineering from a University down south, language is never my forte, but at tertiary level I had no problem switching from BM to English at all and I believe most student will not have problem doing that too at that level, so why on earth it is so important for you people to insist on eTeMS ?
I believe our children's interest is better served if we put our resource on making sure that the government listen to our views on how to enhance the teaching of English instead of lobbying for reversal of the reversal (!)
Dear Puchong_Mali
You are full of shit. You prefer to hide behind eloquent words (I must admit) to explain your reasoning but your logic is full of flaws.
You so eloquently mentioned "to let our children to learn maths and science in the language which they are most comfortable with". I fully agree with that, be it in BM, Mandarin or Tamil in the vernacular or religious schools. BUT, the problem is my children are more comfortable with learning maths and science in English and why are you advocating for them to be taught in BM just because they are in National Schools. Why don't you let the students or parents of the National Schools concerned decide for themselves rather than make a blanket ruling for all of them to switch to BM. For the sake of argument, why didn't the MoE switch it to Mandarin or Tamil?
Yes, I also agree that our English standard can be improved by having more periods and more capable English teachers in the classroom. But this is a different issue to our discussion here, which is to let English remain as the teaching language for Science and Maths.
So, you are a graduate in Engineering - does that mean that we all should listen to your flawed logic? We have Masters and Phds parents in this discussion group but we are not showing off as we are not victims of this stupid ruling. It counts for diddly squat even if you are the PM of Australia.
And just because you had no problem to switch from BM to English, you believe most student will not have a problem. What a load of rubbish! Is this the reasoning they taught at Your University? You ok, everyone will be ok. Do you know that many of our local graduates can't even string two proper English sentences together? Why do you think that they are finding it difficult to land a job that requires communication in English.
Dear Anon 2:06AM,
It seems that you do not realize that for vernacular schools, the MoE is actually reversing the teaching of maths and science to using vernacular languages. In fact in SJKC, there was never a full implementation of eTeMS, it has always been just extra periods for learning maths and science terms in English which actually adds additional burden to pupils without discernible benefit of improving their English.
From your logic it seems that the poor standard of English of our local graduate are due to them not having learned maths and science in English ?
Dear Page
There, you have it. The decision on abolishment of PPSMI is final, said the DG of MoE in The Star today.
All the feedback calls to MoE, emails to MoE and "lots of fine tuning before 2012", came to nothing. They were all PR exercises to them. They never had any intention to listen in the first place. The writings had been on the walls.
So, what are we going to do now? Twiddle our thumbs, moan and groan on these pages till 2012? Please organise something tO generate some publicity for us aggrieved and frustrated parents who wants PPSMI to stay.
I complete agree with Charles & support his suggestion. PAGE are u listening?
Dear David,
I read every single comment coming in. Please bear with us. It is not something we can do at the snap of a finger. What you can do to help is to convene an EGM at your school. Failing that, initiate a signature campaign. Once you have your resolution/signatures, come back to us. In the meantime, please get the neighbouring schools to do the same. You may need a team helping out. Good luck!
I agree that the science and mathematic teach in English in Secondary school but not agree to teach Maths n Sc in Malay.
I have a son and a daughter in yr 6 and form one whom under the ppsmi system. i agree that the secondary school keep the old system tahat they use english to teacher the science and mathematics.i oppose the science and mathematics teaching in malay
绝对不能废除英语教数理，将来孩子们上大学时，数理科都是以英语教学，如果现在不使用英语教数理，孩子们上大学时，会很辛苦，而且英语是国际语言。
the form one student of this year is the most pitiful because form 1 until form 3 is taught by english but form 4 & 5 is taught in malay then when the students reached form 6 , the language will change back into english , is that very funny ?
本来有一个热线电话给公众人士提供意见，但是，不到二天就被关闭，政府根本不接收公众人士的意见，只是做一个样子。
english is a international language,
but bahasa malaya is just use in malaysia only!why the goverment not thinking long term ,just thinking shout term.
一定要以英语教数理，绝对不能废除，政府不能自己做决定，要少数服从多数
如果不结受公众人士的意见,坚决使
用
马来语教学，根本不尊重我们人民
使用BM教学，根本不尊重人民的意见
Feeling so strongly about this issue and completely helpless to do anything to help my children, I felt I had to do something to let the Government know that they are going the wrong direction.
Despite being a first timer at blogging, I managed to start a blog poll (inspired by our Tun Dr. M) to gauge whether the extent of our frustration will translate into votes for the Opposition at the next General Election.
Perhaps, we can wake up this Government by showing them what the voting parents can do. Hopefully, we can get them to change their minds when they see the voting power of the parents.
CHECK OUT www.voicemalaysia.blogspot.com and good luck to all parents who feel like me.
Remember, apathy and indifference are the breeding grounds of many a tyrannies.
An online petition is a good way to go. Each parent seeking the status quo should quote their name, children's names and their respective schools.
PIBGs of some marginal schools may be run by self-serving committee members and could bar an EGM. Similarly, the Headmasters of such schools.
The alternative would be for the PIBG of EACH & every school in the country to convene an EGM and have the proposal tabled for a definitive vote.
Get on with it in haste before intervening actions from the powerful opposition destroys this initiative.
Back to basics to the era of the post Independence and the 80's is all I got to say.
"Modern" Malaysia education era is going down the toilet even with better perks compare to those teachers of yester years.
FATBOY
The Government is really stupid! After SIX years of teaching in English and reverting it back to Malay?
Children is like a sponge that absorb anything that is taught to them.
Its the problem with the quality of teachers who learn Malays when they are young, cant teach the students English now, not the children who cant learn.
Stop toying with our children FUTURE!
Continue them with the teaching of English, after all, the teachers have spent SIX years of preparing the lesson module in English.
Maybe PAGE can start by distributing banners to schools and car stickers for parents to support PPSMI. Parents who support this move can buy these banners and stikers to be displayed in their schools or their vehicles. We got to start somewhere ! Our children's future are at stake. All sensible parents would want their children to be able to face globalisation in the future. The former president of MERCY Malaysia has been elected to work for UNESCO. Will she speak BM or English there? Why can't the MOE understand all these? The H1N1 crisis looming around the globe, what languange is used to communicate between countries? I can continue till the cows come home but will the MOE change? I pray that they do?
We should never resort to demostration or street violence. We should call for proper peaceful discussion with the PM and maybe we can see some solution for this mess caused by the reverting of PPSMI. We need statistics and figures from the saintific community of this country to help us and also show us that all saintific terms is best kept in English. The universal languange.
Also propose to the MOE to set up schools for the english speaking children just like the Tamil and Chinese schools.
Whatever it is the secondary Maths and Science should be taught in English.
GOD BLESS PAGE!
Abolish PPSMI?These people are really nuts!!!!For those who want to study in overseas,this decision only devastates their future!!!Good education builds a wealthy country!!Rethink the decision!Anyway I will support PAGE to the very end!!Keep Fighting PAGE!
Refer to news article: As 2020 deadline looms, Malaysian students fail to shine in science
ASM council member Datuk Dr Halimaton Hamdan says in the 1980s and and 1990s, the government did not
encourage students to take up hard sciences as there was a greater need for engineers, architects and doctors then.
Why Student Fail?
Never blame students!
Even substantial number of school teachers including lectures can fail their own subjects.
95% Reason is due to critical mistake from parent, teachers, PIBG, SCB, Education Policy! Only 1% ~ 5%
Student‘s Problem
Don’t give excuse, our children can do better!
Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013 - 2025
Page #25 Where is action plan?
We can advice KPM via page #37
Immature in Main Expertise
Psychology
Intrinsic Value
Brain, Thought & Mind
Sub essence
School setup architect engineering
Overloading night class
Wrong design of toilet
Call us for full list…….
KPM, JPN, PPD, School
Lack of expertise
Stop focusing effects, we should avoid cause of the problem. How?
% Problem Cause by
30% Parent
20% Teachers
15% PIBG
10% SCB
20% KPM
5% STUDENTS
INTELLIGENT SOCIETY OF MALAYSIA
World’s #1 Intrinsic Brain Training
We are ready to contribute our advice to all including to KPM
www.intelligentsocietyofmalaysia.org +60129228619
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