English Medium Schools

A colonial English school in Malaysia. These schools were established in major towns in the country during British rule.

Bakri Musa just posted his 85th instalment on "Towards A Competitive Malaysia" which touches on how the present education system contributed to the fragmentation of the Malaysian society. Excerpts from his article:

These colonial schools provided an excellent education system:

However, when the language of instruction was changed, the national education system took on a more Malay and Islamic ambiance:

"Children Caught In The Middle"

I was reading the Education Minister's comments on whether the teaching and learning of Science and Maths should revert to the use of the mother tongue, and I empathized with him; he is as the saying goes, 'caught between the devil and the deep blue sea'. He is however careful to impress upon us that the decision would be made by the Cabinet, and not by him after the final round of the Round Table discussions with stake holders. The public is waiting with bated breath as to whether the decision will be made on political or educational ground.

Although he has mentioned that there was a dramatic increase in the number pupils who answered both the Science and Maths papers in English, he has provided precious little information on pupils' performance. It is difficult for the public to make an informed decision unless a detailed analysis of the results is made available to the public.

Meanwhile, proponents and opponents alike will continue to be vociferous in voicing their concern. The Dong Jiao Zong has threatened a nation-wide protest to pressure the government to revert to teaching both the subjects in the mother tongue. They argued that content learning, at least during the primary school years, is more effective through the mother tongue. I believe that the Malay educationists share the same view; moreover they would have salvaged a large measure of their pride to have Bahasa Melayu reinstated to its former elevated position as the language of Science and Maths.

The Dong Jiao has always been fiercely adamant to government tinkering with their entrenched system for fear that it would diminish the character of Chinese schools. What they do not see or refuse to see is the harm they have inflicted on the innocent. The situation is reminiscent of the 60's and early 70's when Chinese parents in droves abandoned the Chinese schools in favour of English schools. As Wong Chun Wai pointed out, the Chinese realized the importance of English at that time. What drove the Chinese back to their vernacular schools is not that they have a more effective system, but simply because the national schools are seen as more and more mono-ethnic and religious. Look at how ineffective has been the teaching of Bahasa Melayu and English in Chinese primary schools. Many of these students who enrolled in National secondary schools were left to feel like fish out of water and the drop-out rate of Chinese students in national secondary schools is estimated at about 25% (out of 99,000) according to a survey conducted by MCA. A government survey revealed that 1 in 4 students dropped out of the system.

To be fair, the Chinese educationists do not reject the policy in toto; they would prefer that both the subjects be taught in English at the secondary level. But is it going to help their students who may in future enrol in national schools? Going by their track records, these students are going to be even more helpless when they enter these schools. Those who prefer to go to Chinese Independent schools are also crippled by their lack of competence in English which will effectively exclude them from studying overseas except in Taiwan and China.

The controversial Namewee video clip on his alma mater highlighted the predicament of Chinese students who have gone through the Chinese school system. He related that her sister who studied all her subjects in Mandarin had to study Maths and Science in Bahasa Melayu and later in English in the college she attended.

I am sure many Chinese students have felt how severely they have been hampered by a system that has limited their opportunity for further education.

Malaysia's Foreign Students

It is distressing to read that four students from Botswana died in Malaysia this year, two from car accidents and two from suicide. What led them to commit suicide? It has even prompted a visit from Botswana's Education Minister to meet with his students to find out more.

According to a recent news report, there are about 850 Botswana students studying in the Lim Kok Wing Institute, and that is a huge number, while there are around 7000 African students studying in the various institutions in the country.

Some students who were interviewed said that they were being treated unfairly and some even had to put up with racial slurs on a daily basis.

Malaysians are known for their hospitality and these revelations seem to go against the grain. However, there are occasional reports on fights that broke out between the locals and African students. The trouble is Malaysians lump all students from the African continent as Africans, even though Africa is ethnically diverse.

We live in a condominium which used to be popular with African students studying in various institutions in the vicinity, and residents have often complained about how rowdy and noisy they were particularly late at night. But as I said, it is hard to distinguish which part of Africa they come from. Whatever, it is, these suicide cases have dented the image of our country as an education hub.

Moreover, the nonsensical suggestion by the Director General of the Malaysian Immigration Department that foreign students should be segregated in a special area has not helped the country in its drive to promote its attractiveness to foreign students. An invaluable experience in studying abroad is the wealth of cultural experience that foreign students are exposed to, and to suggest that they be 'quarantined' because they "possess clashing cultures with that of the locals" is ludicrous to say the least.

More should be done by the Ministry of Higher Education to ensure that not only African students, but other foreign students as well, are made to feel at home in Malaysia. Private institutions that have the licence to enrol foreign students should ensure that they adapt to the local conditions, particularly the neighbourhood which they reside in as soon as possible so that the locals do not view them as a 'threat'.

Students from Botswana

"Shssssh...its exam time"

"Rush hour rescheduled, flights changed for crucial South Korea exam. Education authorities said about 590,000 students sat the day-long exam at nearly 1,000 centres. To prevent cheating, they were banned from carrying electronic gadgets such as mobile phones or MP3 players".

When I was taking my exam eons ago, my mother prepared kidney and liver soup for me every morning, which was fortified by Brand's Essence of Chicken which supposedly increased my physical and mental powers to go that extra mile. The kidney and liver were not completely cooked so as not to destroy their nutrients. Fortunately, she never fed me with pig-brain soup. As a double protection, I had to drink a bowl of water containing ashes of talisman paper and keep a folded one in my wallet for good luck.


South Korean parents' anxiety over their children's performance in college examinations is no less different from parents the world over. But in South Korea's case, it seems their world comes to a temporary standstill to provide these students the optimal condition and encouragement to do well in their exam.

English Their Choice for Maths and Science

On its front page today Star newspaper revealed that English is the choice of many Year Six pupils when they answered their exam papers on Maths and Science. Pupils had the option to answer the papers in English, Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese, Tamil or a combination of the three. Pupils who answered the Science paper in English shot up by more than 100 times while those who answered the Math paper in English jumped by more than 200 times. Of the 518,616 pupils who sat for the exam, 159,234 pupils (31%) answered the Science paper in English while 238,153 (46%) answered the Math paper in English. Last year, only 1,324 pupils answered the Science paper in English and 1,075 answered the Math paper in English.

The statistics would seem to suggest that the Policy did not fail in toto. On the contrary, more and more pupils are willing and confident in using English for the two subjects. However, the picture would be clearer if a comparison in the use of English between urban and rural students is made. That would provide a more balanced picture on the whole situation.

So what is it going to be, many parents would ask. The Education Ministry had announced earlier that the decision whether to continue with the Policy would be announced after the Primary school assessment. However, it said today that this year's examination result will not be the basis to decide whether to continue with the Policy or to revert to the use of Bahasa Malaysia for the two subjects. Rather, other stakeholders, including parents' views would be considered. It looks like the Ministry is holding on to a hot potato.

Another Burden for the School Kids

The Prime Minister recently suggested that History be taught in primary schools. That predictably provoked outbursts from parents who think that their lovable kids already are heavily burdened by the existing subjects they have to learn. Already troubled by the existing debate over using English as a medium of instruction for Science and Maths, the parents now have to contend with this new issue.

History as it is taught currently in Malaysian schools has failed miserably in inculcating a sense of belonging and unity among the races. History as it is learnt in our school is remembering dates and events. Furthermore, in the Malaysian context, the contributions of other races in the history of development has been down played.

As it is often been said, History is for the victors; thus History in that sense is always written from the perspective of the victors. Thus, as Ahmad Fuad said, history is 'false memory'. A good example is the way the Japanese presented their sanitized version of the Second World War to erase from the collective memory of young Japanese children the atrocities committed by the Imperial Army.

Ahmad Fuad's view of History is graphically displayed in his artwork. He lamented the younger generation's lack of historical awareness, which is also compounded by 'false memory'.




The images of this presentation are taken from Rimbun Dahan

"Give Schools Option To Teach In English"

The debate on whether to jettison the policy of teaching maths and science in English continues. Some parents have suggested that schools be given the option to teach both the subjects in English. A comparison between the English and the Malay dailies predictably reveals two schools of thought, one for and the other against. The latter is concerned with how the Malay language has been robbed of its status as a language of maths and science, in other words a language of scientific discourse. Voicing this fear, a committee member of the Association of National Writers said,"Menghapuskan bahasa Melayu daripada isi dan kandungan ilmu Sains dan Matematik yang tinggi akan menjadikan bahasa kebangsaan itu satu bahasa rendah, pasaran dan hanya untuk kegunaan golongan rendah."

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.

Don't Handicap Our Young Ones

For the past few days the debate on whether the policy on teaching Maths and Science in English should be continued or scrapped has continued to hog the pages in a local English daily. The astonishing thing is that the people who wrote in to the daily voicing their support for the continuation of the policy were Malay parents. One would expect vocal support to come from the English educated non-Malays. It wasn't so; and it is a positive indication that Malay attitude towards the English language may have undergone a paradigm shift. The main argument has been that they do not want their children to be handicapped by a poor command of English when they enter the private sector job market. They also exploded the myth that using the language would make them more an 'orang putih' and less a Malay.

A columnist also commented that the recent absurd advertorial must have dealt a terribly embarassing blow to Her Royal Highness. He described the blooper as "a howling shame". To add insult to injury, the institution is named after the third prime minister of the country, the father of the present Minister of Education. How's that for a double whammy? Undoubtedly, the advertorial was picked up by foreign readers and institutions on the net, and by those who are considering studying in our tertiary institutions. I shudder to think what must have crossed their minds when they read it.

"Wah, your Englis so powderful!"

Many have argued that improving the command of the language should be done by increasing the number of periods alloted to the teaching of English and not by learning it through Maths and Science. As it is, the teaching timetable is already heavily loaded, and increasing it for English would be at the expense of other subjects.

The long term objective of the policy however, is not only to expose students to the use of English for communication, but also English as a language of Maths and Science as the primary objective. But "Malay nationalists" as one parent wrote, have vehemently opposed the move as one that downgrades the importance of Bahasa Melayu as the primary language of instruction. Further, the present government under tremendous political pressure would most likely bend to the populist demand to revert to Bahasa Melayu just to appease both the Malay heartland and the vernacular educationists. As Pragmatic Revelations commented on my earlier post, when political expediency becomes the over riding concern, the educational system becomes a political football.

We do not need to go very far back to know how a switch in the medium of instruction could lead to either success or failure. The early 80's saw a switch in the medium of instruction from English to Bahasa Melayu. Teachers, who in the past received their education in the English medium were provided with only bilingual textbooks to teach and they did a remarkably successful job for the simple reason that they somehow had to be a role model to their charges and they worked hard to fulfil the role of a committed teacher, even though initially handicapped by a weak command of the language.

What has happened to that commitment, the drive to do a good job, to provide the best education for their charges? It is this commitment to do a good job that is sadly lacking in the teaching profession. Moreover, how many teachers are really proficient in English to explain mathematical and scientific concepts properly? Was the crash course they had undergone sufficient to equip them to teach effectively? It is not as though these teachers do not know English. They have studied the language for at least 11 years, so they are not exactly strangers to the language. I have seen how admirably quick the American Peace Corp Volunteers picked up Bahasa Melayu after one month of study and to this day, some if not several could still speak and write the language. Once my American friend, Nancy wrote to me in Bahasa Melayu and she acquitted herself remarkably after a lapse of so many years. I believe that behind their success is their spirit unfettered by prejudice, their desire to learn and their love for things unfamiliar and wonderful. And above all, their willingness to serve and contribute.

Below is what she has written to me:

Kepada sahabat2 yang jauh, Lee Chang Ngee dan Ng Yew Moi, dengan surat email ini saya hendak beritahu anda bahawa saya akan pergi ke Malaysia dalam Januari. Saya akan jumpa Sarah di Singapura, boleh jadi makan angin di sana semasa satu atau dua hari. Lepas itu pergi ke Malaysia ke Batu Pahat dan tempat2 lain. Mungkin saya hendak pergi ke Sarawak, hendak jalan-jalan ke Kuching, Miri, Brunei (?). Umor Sarah tahun 21 atau 22 dan dia bahru keluar universiti di Lyons, France. Saya belum dapat rancangan kapalterbang, tetapi akan gunakan United Airlines sebab ada "Mileage Plus" award yang sudah naik dan sekarang saya boleh pilih flight bebas antarabangsa. Berharap anda boleh faham bahasa Malaysia saya--lah!

Students are no fools; they can spot a phony a mile away. I contend that the failure of the policy lies squarely on the shoulders of teachers who accepted the change with lukewarm enthusiasm and taught with even less enthusiasm.

Maths And Science In English: a failure

The New Straits Times headline:

The Teaching of Maths And Science In English
Study reveals policy's flaws

Consider how fortunate the Malaysian Science and Maths teachers are when the policy to teach Science and Maths in English was implemented: laptops were issued to individual teachers which they can take home to prepare their lessons; LCD projectors for each classroom; CDs for teaching topics covered by the syllabus at every level; crash-courses in English; reference books; even lesson plans for each unit in the syllabus have been scripted in English so that they could conduct their lessons more efficiently; and to top it all, an allowance of 5 to 10% of their basic salary, with the proviso that they pass their English language courses. Of course, nobody failed in these courses. It is not uncommon to see teachers teach by remote control by inserting the CD into the laptop and the computer takes over. The teaching of Science and Mathematics has never been easier.

Now indications are that this policy after five years and RM 5 billion down the road will be assigned to the scrapyard. If it does happen, the loss of the critical allowance for these teachers will be sorely felt in this trying time of high cost of living.

The policy was pushed through amidst considerable opposition from both the ruling coalition parties, opposition parties as well as academics and educational institutions. Needless to say, Tun Dr Mahathir was a prime minister who would not tolerate any opposition to his plan. However, what had made this controversial, great man to embark on a policy that would surely have made him very unpopular, not only among the Malays, some of whom branded him as "a traitor of the Malay language", but also the vernacular educationists? There are many anecdotes that pointed to his decision to embark on the project, one of which was related here. But the publicly announced rationale for such a controversial decision was the decline in the standard of English in the country as he saw it.

And now a professor from Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) who conducted a research on the impact of the use of English for both subjects has proclaimed that the policy is a failure, and thousands of students have been victimized by the policy. His conclusions were that there was no improvement in the language proficiency of students; more alarming however, was the deterioration in the performance of Science and Mathematics, particularly rural students. If that is so, why is the UPSI's Year Five tests for both subjects showed Malay students in rural areas and large towns did better than those in the cities (The Straits Times, 7 Sept 2008)? And why did the vernacular schools do better than the Malay schools? So is it a failure of the policy, or is it the methodology, the quality of the teaching, the lack of commitment from the teachers and school administrators since they are the ones who opposed the move at the onset?

The professor also did not say how the students fared in comparison with those who studied the subjects in their mother-tongue before the policy was implemented. On the other hand, visits to schools by the Federal Inspectorate to study the implementation, teaching and learning of these subjects have provided a picture of significant improvement. Who are we to believe?

It seems a foregone conclusion the government would revert to teaching both the subjects in the mother-tongue to please the people. The question that comes to mind is: Is it a failure of the policy or its implementation? In this connection Bakri Musa has an interesting take on the subject.

While we raged and screamed at the former Prime Minister over his foolish decision, it would do well to look at the Philippine's bilingual education policy, which uses Filipino as a language of instruction for social studies and English for Science and Mathematics. The country has been doing that for years, and the people are none the worse for it. In fact, they would prefer the status quo, although the government is in the process of making Filipino, which will be known as Pilipino, as the language of instruction for all subjects. An interesting digression here is that a group of some 50 Korean teachers went to the country recently to study how English is taught as a subject and as a language of instruction for Science and Mathematics.

We should seriously do some soul searching so as not to throw out the baby with the bath water.

Non-Malays in National Schools

An interesting but worrying observation was made by Alias Mohd Yusof in his letter to Malaysiakini. He was puzzled and worried as to why there was not a single Non-Malay student out of the approximately 300 year-one students enrolled at the Taman Sri Pulai Primary school in the Kulai district even though there is a substantial Chinese population living in the vicinity of the school. He further noted that Chinese parents were even willing to send their children to a Chinese primary school further away even though the Taman Sri Pulai Primary school is just a door-step away.

The phenomenon of declining non-Malay enrolment in national primary and secondary schools has been happening. But as Alias Mohd Yusof argued, this unhealthy trend has to be arrested in the interest of real racial harmony. It could not be due to poor academic standard of the school as it has an excellent track record. If the problem has to do with learning the pupil's mother-tongue, surely national schools could provide this so that non-Malay pupils could learn their mother-tongues in the same school?

However, the heart of the problem is non-Malay perception that national primary and secondary schools have become fertile ground for institutionalizing Islamic practices, and this perception has been reinforced again and again by school heads and teachers who have an Islamic agenda of their own. Before Tun Dr Mahathir retired, he had warned against the increasing Islamization of national schools and said steps had to be taken to encourage non-Malay parents to make national schools the schools of their choice. The recent case of a national co-ed secondary school in Seremban which tried to segregate the sexes by stipulating separate classrooms, separate entrances and staircases, separate canteen counters and god knows what, is an example. Another common incident is the stipulation that non-Muslim female students should wear skirts that cover up to their ankles even though the guideline for non-Muslim female students is the blouse and the pinafore with a hemline below their knees. This is the national dress code for all secondary non-Muslim female students in Malaysia. But the little 'napoleons' have deemed it fit to bend the rules. The intent to change the secular nature of schools is real and widespread.

The dress code for non-Malay female students in secondary schools in Malaysia

Dress code for Muslim female students in secondary schools

In reply to Alias Mohd Yusof, David Kumaran narrated his unfortunate experience as a father who sent his three children to national schools, and how his children were subjected to these Islamic influences. He recounted how one of his children together with other non-Muslim children was forced to sit through an Islamic lesson because the Moral Subject teacher was absent. A case of indirect proselytising?

We should thank Alias Mohd Yusof for recognizing and voicing his genuine concern over the issue.

Lording Over Their Fiefdoms

The little napoleons are up to their mischiefs again. A school principal has deemed fit to impose Islamic principles in school even though his greatest concern should be how to improve racial integration in a national school. These are the bureaucrats with closed-shop mentality that mess around with our kids' brains. Read here for more.

The controversial school: SMK Senawang Jaya, Seremban.
Photo from thestar online

(Update: 11 January 2008: The State Education Department ordered the school the rescind its ruling on sex segregation in the school.)