PKR's William Leong has suggested English-medium schools, just like Chinese and Tamil schools, as an additional choice to parents. We have expensive private schools using English as a medium of instruction and some even following a foreign syllabus like Cambridge. Recently, someone alleged that 45 Mara colleges will be or are already using Cambridge syllabus. So there are no hard and fast rules for those with money or connections. For those well heeled, there is always overseas education from a young age.
Nik Nazmi has been under a lot of flak for stating PKR's official objection to PPSMI. He has his point but some people do not appreciate it. I think the problem is of choice, or the lack of it, because it is impossible to please everybody. But for the long term, William's suggestion makes a lot of sense because we need to deal with the problem decisively instead of half-measures like PPSMI. As they say, the truth hurts, that Bahasa Malaysia cannot compete with universal English in terms of use, especially in technology, more so in IT. For those who insist on Bahasa Malaysia only, they will lose out later when the students are ready to look for jobs. Even if they could find jobs locally, they will be side-lined if in a multi-national corporation. Even if it is a Malaysian MNC, they will not be able to fare as well as those with a good grasp of English when communicating with international colleagues and customers.
The Education Minister can openly encourage English-medium schools, subject to demand. What they are doing with certain Mara colleges seem stealthy for the lack of publicity and availability. The basic economic rule of supply and demand would ensure healthy competition among schools using different medium of instruction. But it will not be politically expedient. If even Dr. Mahathir could not do it, only a resounding 'Yes' from the people could persuade the present or future leaders to do it.
We should be aware that we are dealing with children who are intellectually advanced because of the use of computers. While we are still thinking of parents' choice, have we thought about the students' choice? If parents could use their votes to decide on who should be running the country, a generation of future voters who had been denied a choice could be formidable. Think about it.
PKR MP moots English-medium schools
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