A PTA vice-chairperson advocating the continuation of the policy at a round-table discussion with the Ministry of Education
The other view urged the government to continue with the policy so that their children will be able to compete in the job market and on a global level. They have seen how thousands of graduates most of whom are Malays, have remained unemployable because of their poor command of the language. These debates were fuelled by a recent study conducted by Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris which concluded that the Policy was flawed and should be scrapped. However Bakri Musa has pointed out several flaws in its design among which are:- lack of any control group
- the convoluted English in some of the questions
- exclusion of other variables, for example teachers' proficiency, parents' educational level.
He has also dug up a nugget of information pertaining to the background of the university which carried out the study:
UPSI in its previous incarnation as Sultan Idris Teachers’ College
was a hotbed of Malay nationalism. This study is less an academic
research and more political polemic camouflaged as a pseudo-scientific
study to justify its authors’ nationalist bias. Their data and methodology
just do not support their conclusion.
The government will announce its decision after the results of the national Primary school assessment at the end of the year.
Given the intense lobbying by UMNO and other Malay non-government organizations, it is highly improbable that the policy would be continued. Another policy which will suffer a pre-mature death.
Let's hope that this policy will be continued and not scrapped. However, with the current political climate, who knows what will happen?
ReplyDeleteI am taken by that little picture of 'you',very mongolian if you know what I mean! Information from the grapvine suggests that it will be scrapped; and the roundtable discussions they are having at the moment is just a sandiwara.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear it. It brings to mind the phrase "throwing out the baby with the bath water".
ReplyDelete