Govt to be firm on PPSMI

PUTRAJAYA: The Government’s decision to reverse the Teaching of Mathematics and Science in English policy (PPSMI) stands.
Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said any policy decision made must be consistent.
“There cannot be a flip-flop within the policy,” he told reporters after presenting excellent service awards to 399 Education Ministry staff.
Muhyiddin, who is also Education Minister, said his ministry would study views from members of the Cabinet or anyone else reported in the media.
“We take all these into consideration when trying to strengthen the ministry’s new strategy, which is to uphold Bahasa Malaysia and strengthen English,” he said.
He was commenting on MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat’s statement that the party would make several proposals to the Cabinet on the usage of English in the teaching of Mathematics and Science.
On Tuesday, Ong had said the proposals would be to enhance the teaching of English subjects in vernacular primary schools, use English and Bahasa Malaysia to teach the two subjects from Form One to Form Three, and maintain English as the medium of instruction for Form Four and Form Five.
Muhyiddin said the Cabinet discussed many things, adding that the views of its members were important.
“The MCA president has also spoken outside expressing his interest on pushing Mathematics and Science to be implemented in English at secondary school level,” he said.
Asked if this meant the proposal had been shot down, Muhyiddin said he did not say so.
“Every decision we make must be consistent. Anyone can have a view ... maybe there is some rationale on the basis of some experiences,” he said.
Muhyiddin said what was important was the implementation of the new policy.
“I have said we will strengthen the English curriculum from now on. We would like to invite the experts in English who may want to contribute in terms of ideas or how to reform the curriculum, and even how to improve the teaching of Mathematics and Science,” he said.
Last Wednesday, Muhyiddin said the Government had decided to reverse the PPSMI policy and revert to Bahasa Malaysia in national schools and Chinese and Tamil in vernacular schools from 2012.
The PPSMI policy was implemented in phases, beginning with Year One, Form One and Lower Six students in 2003, under former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s administration.

tunku : whose views are taken when the government scrapped PPSMI? why did the government listen to those minority views and not the silent majority views. why the government did not give each student at schools a questionnaires for the parents to fill up whether they want PPSMI or not when their views are most relevant. we hope the government will look into this. visit: Parents Action Group for Education (PAGE)