Take it from Dr. Lim Chin Lam that English is merely providing students with the best tool for studying Science and Mathematics.
Excerpt from his Whither English in Malaysia in The Star:
While Mandarin is used by the largest number of people, English is the most widely used language in the world. The following are other data relating to the use of English in different situations: (1) 380 million speak English as a second language; (2) one billion speak English as a foreign language; (3) there are an estimated 1.7 billion users of the language: English dominates the Internet, the print media, business, aviation, conferences, other international events, etc.; (4) approximately one billion are learning English worldwide; (5) over the Internet, about 80% of home pages and 60% of e-mail are in English; (6) English is the medium of higher education in many countries, e.g. India, the Netherlands, Oman, South Africa, Sweden and Turkey; (6) 85% of the world’s knowledge is in English; and (7) 98% of scientific papers are written in English.
English in Malaysia
Certain segments of the Malaysian population seem to have a love-hate relationship with the English language. They harbour a lingering memory of English as the language of the colonial masters – but, arguably, with a grudging acceptance of English as a world language and the language of academe. How come, it is said, that they clamour for the national language to be used in school and university but send (because they can afford to do so) their children to be educated abroad where the medium of instruction is English? They objected even when only two subjects, viz. science and mathematics out of a basket of 30(?) subjects, were to be taught in English!
In 2002, the government of the day took a bold step and introduced PPSMI (the Malay abbreviation for the teaching of science and mathematics in English) in schools. Some years later, there was a re-thinking about the programme. In deference to non-government organisations (NGOs) that claimed that rural students were lagging behind urban students, the new government in 2010 scrapped the ongoing programme – even before it had completed a full cycle – so that the rural students could catch up. The decision was unfortunate, considering that the national vision is to attain developed-country status by 2020. Surely reining back the front-runners cannot be a strategy for advancement?
The SPM (Sijil Persekolahan Malaysia, a school-leaving certification) results which came out this year are revealing. Rural students actually outdid the urban students in science and mathematics. Will PAGE (Parents Action Group for Education), which has been campaigning with a steadfastness born of conviction, finally convince the government to reinstate PPSMI? After all, the campaign of PAGE represents the outcry of anguished parents of school-going children, while the objecting NGOs per se have no children to speak of. To the objectors, I maintain that PPSMI is not a circuitous way of teaching English; rather, it is merely providing students with the best tool for studying S & M.
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While Mandarin is used by the largest number of people, English is the most widely used language in the world. The following are other data relating to the use of English in different situations: (1) 380 million speak English as a second language; (2) one billion speak English as a foreign language; (3) there are an estimated 1.7 billion users of the language: English dominates the Internet, the print media, business, aviation, conferences, other international events, etc.; (4) approximately one billion are learning English worldwide; (5) over the Internet, about 80% of home pages and 60% of e-mail are in English; (6) English is the medium of higher education in many countries, e.g. India, the Netherlands, Oman, South Africa, Sweden and Turkey; (6) 85% of the world’s knowledge is in English; and (7) 98% of scientific papers are written in English.
English in Malaysia
Certain segments of the Malaysian population seem to have a love-hate relationship with the English language. They harbour a lingering memory of English as the language of the colonial masters – but, arguably, with a grudging acceptance of English as a world language and the language of academe. How come, it is said, that they clamour for the national language to be used in school and university but send (because they can afford to do so) their children to be educated abroad where the medium of instruction is English? They objected even when only two subjects, viz. science and mathematics out of a basket of 30(?) subjects, were to be taught in English!
In 2002, the government of the day took a bold step and introduced PPSMI (the Malay abbreviation for the teaching of science and mathematics in English) in schools. Some years later, there was a re-thinking about the programme. In deference to non-government organisations (NGOs) that claimed that rural students were lagging behind urban students, the new government in 2010 scrapped the ongoing programme – even before it had completed a full cycle – so that the rural students could catch up. The decision was unfortunate, considering that the national vision is to attain developed-country status by 2020. Surely reining back the front-runners cannot be a strategy for advancement?
The SPM (Sijil Persekolahan Malaysia, a school-leaving certification) results which came out this year are revealing. Rural students actually outdid the urban students in science and mathematics. Will PAGE (Parents Action Group for Education), which has been campaigning with a steadfastness born of conviction, finally convince the government to reinstate PPSMI? After all, the campaign of PAGE represents the outcry of anguished parents of school-going children, while the objecting NGOs per se have no children to speak of. To the objectors, I maintain that PPSMI is not a circuitous way of teaching English; rather, it is merely providing students with the best tool for studying S & M.
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