The Teaching of Science and Mathematics in English

It has been three years since the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English was implemented. The review on its effectiveness is due and already there are certain groups calling for it to be scrapped.

Various reasons have been given to support the move, one being that students are still struggling to come to grips with the language and also the ever often heard argument that students understand better what is taught in their mother tongue.Have we already forgotten that a certain political party commented that one out of four Chinese national type school student does not complete his secondary education due to the switch in the medium of instruction when he attends Form One? With a common medium of instruction at primary level for key subjects we ensure that students regardless of race, will be able to grasp what is being taught at secondary level.

And what is this mother tongue reason that they are trying to put forward? Are they referring to Mandarin? I am afraid that their argument does not hold. Malaysian Chinese speak in various dialects like Cantonese, Hokkien, Teochew and Hakka. When they attend primary school, they have to learn Mandarin first in order to understand the other subjects being taught in that language medium. When they return home, they revert back to their own dialects.

Similarly, the generation including many of our successful leaders who attended school before and immediately after Merdeka, were taught in English as the schools were still mainly English medium schools. They never had any problems with their studies and went on to become what they are today.

With the slip in international rankings of our local universities, it is all the more important that the current policy be maintained otherwise parents will be increasingly pressured to send their children to study overseas in order to give them an advantage in the job market. The key word here is competitiveness. Let us look at the bigger picture and leave racial politics out of our children's future. To read about what others think, go to Lim Kit Siang's blog