The Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) applauds the Prime Minister of Malaysia for an excellent presentation of the New Economic Model (NEM). Of particular interest, as far as the education system is concerned, is the courage shown by the Prime Minister to acknowledge and address critical shortcomings of the education system, and his strong desire that much needs to be done through perseverance and commitment to ‘weather the storm’.
For a shift in approach from rote learning to creative and critical thinking, the most immediate step to take would be to lessen the number of examinations within the year in schools. Presently, examinations are so frequent that little teaching can be done and subjects are skimmed through in order that the syllabus is ‘covered’.
Questions posed to students on a daily basis and during assessments, should be re-designed to be more open-ended, encouraging the student to think in a rational way, to solve problems given in a logical manner and to provide an environment where the opinion of the student is never wrong, further empowering the student to be challenged and to be confident with himself and among his friends.
Closer to our hearts, whilst we all agree that English language proficiency needs to be enhanced, for incomes to move upwards, the people need the ‘right’ knowledge in the ‘correct’ language of their chosen fields of expertise, namely, ICT, science and commerce, which will surely be the prime mover of the economy.
To overcome this weakness, the introduction of MBMMBI, which we believe has flaws by lowering exposure to the English language from 41% to a mere 21% of subject hours, only addresses language and not ‘critical’ knowledge nor ‘specialised’ language.
The change of medium of instruction from English to the mother tongue, namely Bahasa Melayu, Mandarin and Tamil, to be made effective 2011, in the teaching and learning of science and math, will further erode not just the English language, but also stifle knowledge to be gained in these very specialized areas of ICT, science and commerce, where English is, without any doubt, the lingua franca.
Having said that, unless and until the government stops subordinating the education system to political agendas, the NEM will just remain another ‘figment of its imagination’.
Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim
Chairperson PAGE
FOR OUR CHILDREN
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6 comments:
Well said. Good One!
PM is slowly fishing for support to continue with PPSMI by stating that "bygone era education" is worthless to our young Malaysians who need to think in English in order to understand the latest researches in Mathematical and Scientific discoveries. You cannot think in Malay. Chinese or Tamil and then translate into English. To be excellent, we need at least 10,000 to 15,000 words in English. Most (90%) Malay students have about 2000 English words, Chinese & Indian students about 5000. The top 10% have about 8000 but still are unable to understand, think and write new thoughts. Just read any new thesis by U degeree holders. 80% are hashed and mashed "bygone era" writings.PM's words give some hope he will keep PPSMI. One national referendum would give the right figures. The right to educate our childred, in whatever language, must be with the parents. My daily prayers.
I now converse 100% in English with my kids to make sure they are good in their English. Their future will be so much bleaker with less job opportunities if they do no excel in English. Excelling in Chinese and Bahasa is not going to give them a bright future. It is the game politicians play and it is hurting our children and country.
Thank you all for your input.
The Government says it is listening to the people but are they? Here, we parents, are telling them we want English and they say "NO" and tell us to "SHUT UP". They will never learn.
Good rread
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