No decision yet on Math and Science in English policy

PUTRAJAYA: The wrangle over the teaching of Mathematics and Science in English continued with seven proposals put before the final roundtable meeting yesterday.


Consultative mood: Dr Wee (left) and Alimuddin (right) having a light moment with three of the participants at the ministry’s fifth roundtable discussion Tuesday.

The proposals are:

> Stick to Mathematics and Science in English;

> Revert to Bahasa Malaysia;

> Let primary schools teach both subjects in the mother tongue and secondary schools use English;

> Let primary schools decide for themselves;

> Mathematics and Science be taught in Bahasa Malaysia and mother tongue for Years One to Three and in English from Year Four onwards;

> A combination of mother tongue in the first three years and a choice of mother tongue or English after that; and

> The two subjects will not be taught in Years One to Three and instead be integrated into other subjects.

These proposals were summarised from four roundtables organised by the Education Ministry since July to gather feedback from a spectrum of stakeholders.

However, Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong, who chaired the fifth and final discussion yesterday, cautioned that the purpose of the dialogues was to gather feedback from all parties.

No decision on the issue would be made at this juncture.

“We will put together a report for Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, who will then study it and submit the ministry’s findings to the Cabinet for a decision,” he told a press conference.

What was disclosed for the first time and of great interest to the 180 participants present was the analysis of the recent Primary School Achievement Test (UPSR), based on the performance of the first cohort of Year Six pupils who have gone through six years of learning Maths and Science in English.

“Overall, the trend has been positive. Pupils have actually done marginally better in many instances. More pupils in both urban and rural schools scored A, B and Cs in the two subjects.

“Even their performance in the English language has shown a rather big improvement of 4.4%, while the performance in Bahasa remained stable,” said director-general of education Datuk Alimuddin Mohd Dom, who presented the analysis.

Another encouraging sign was that the number of pupils opting to answer the two subjects in English had increased significantly, reflecting greater confidence in using the language.

In Tamil vernacular schools (SJKT), 62.76% of pupils answered in English for Science and 89.11% for Maths.

It was a totally different scenario in Chinese national-type schools (SJKC), though. Only 2.86% answered in English for Science and 1.29% for Maths.



Source : The Star