A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss

Perhaps it would be better if the Malaysian geographical terrain were more like Holland’s … metaphorically speaking. Then the rock tablets sent out from the Hall of O’ Wise Lawmakers would have more time to gather moss. Many during our civilized existence have been sent bounding down from the mountain top to crash into tiny bits.

Actually, some of the policies implemented by the Ministry of Education are quite good. The sad thing is that insufficient time is given for them to be in force long enough for results to bear fruit.

One of the tablets sentenced to the quarry is the Teaching of Mathematics & Science in English Policy (PPSMI being the Malay acronym). As we speak, the MBMMBI tablet is being prepared as its replacement by 2012. MBMMBI is the Malay acronym for Policy for Upholding the Malay Language, Strengthening the Command of English.

So, basically, the PPSMI tablet was first made to improve the command of the English language in Malaysia as well as strengthen Malaysian students’ grip of the Sciences through more exposure to the English language.

The principle of language learning is simple: the more exposure and practice you have of a language, the faster you master it. Those who appreciate this fact would thus understand one of the rationales of the PPSMI.

Some people may question the logic of this in the context of teaching Mathematics and Science. They say that the English terms used are specific to these two subjects, and that they have nothing to do with learning English. If the students have no intention of continuing with further studies in Science, they shouldn’t even enter the Science stream in secondary school in the first place.

The truth is, most of the scientific journals worldwide are written and published in English. The problem is the translation of scientific texts to Bahasa Malaysia has not always done justice to the contents, nor do we have truly qualified personnel to do the best job.

If our students cannot understand even basic scientific terminology in English, how in the world can they excel at the tertiary level and beyond? This is the very reason so many of our undergraduates have to struggle their way through. Some do not have the linguistic strength to easily understand scientific journals and textbooks which are mostly in English.

We need to be able to view issues with a telescope instead of a microscope! How can a Malaysian make an impressive presence at an international scientific conference when he cannot even write or speak in grammatically correct English?

It is such a pity that the Teaching of Maths and Science in English policy is due for the dumpster by 2012. Positive results were already showing, based on the recent announcement by the Ministry of Education. The director-general himself had said that the PPSMI has not affected the results of students who sat for the SPM last year.

This was only the second batch of students who had undergone the policy and the statistics are already astounding. An average of at least 70% to 86% of students had chosen to answer the exam questions in English for the Science and Maths papers.

Students are allowed to answer in either Bahasa Malaysia or English. The choice made by the majority of the SPM students shows that they are comfortable enough to use the language for the exam. Does this not warrant enough evidence that our students can and have coped?

This constant ding-donging of policies is also a waste of resources and time for both the government and the people. The reverting back to teaching Maths and Science in Bahasa Malaysia requires printing of new textbooks and teaching aid, which means additional cost to parents and the government. Let us not forget the training and retraining required for the teachers; all the resources and time poured into training them to teach in English before this.

The recent court case lost by four students against the PPSMI brought forth voices from many parties which show support for the PPSMI. The High Court had declared on May 9 that it is not unconstitutional to teach the subjects in English.

And that decision has the support of the Sarawak Teachers’ Union. Other groups with the same opinion are the NUTP, Malaysian Scientific Association, Parent Action Group for Education as well as businessmen and parents.

I find the explanation given for the decision to revert to the old system dissatisfactory. The only clarification given was that the gap between rural and urban students has widened since the PPSMI started, but no figures were given to support this. What was given were percentages of teachers who are proficient in English. If there is a clear logic in this ‘explanation’, I must be blind.