Listen to views of silent majority, Govt urged

PETALING JAYA: The Government should listen to the views of parents who are among the silent majority opposing the scrapping of the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English, a lobby group said.
The group, comprising the Parent-Teacher Association of Bandar Sri Damansara, concerned parents and a non-governmental organisation, is appealing to the Government to consider flexibility in the policy reversal.
Famemas Malaysia Supporters Club (a group of sports fans) chairman Lee Hui Seng said that if the Government still insisted on the policy reversal, it should consider allowing the teaching of the two subjects in English to be implemented at the secondary school level.
“Let the majority decide. Not the minority. Otherwise, we will lose more brainy people to foreign countries,” he told a press conference here yesterday.
“Reversing the policy is not the way to solve problems. We should tackle the problem head on. Don’t give the excuse that rural students can’t cope with learning the two subjects in English. They can master the language,” he said.
Instead, Lee said teachers should be sent for training to ensure better implementation of the teaching of the two subjects in English.
“This is better than translating Science and Mathematics references to Bahasa Malaysia. The Government should make the education policy more competitive for the sake of our children’s future. If not, in five or six years, the Thais and Indonesians will overtake us.
“Even China and Hong Kong have realised the importance of teaching children in English. Bilingualism will make us globally competitive, bilingualism can help create the 1Malaysia concept envisaged by our Prime Minister,” he said.
Lee added that the group was not belittling Bahasa Malaysia as the national language, but the teaching of the two subjects in English would not make Malaysians less patriotic.
SMK Bandar Sri Damansara 1 PTA president Syed Abdul Razak Alsagoff said the Government was taking a step backward by making the policy reversal as English was the language of commerce and trade and scientific endeavours.
“Don’t reinvent the wheel. Why make life difficult for our kids? If the implementation is wrong, correct it,” he said, adding that parents should have been extensively consulted as the issue was central to parents rather than politicians, vernacular educationists or the so-called nationalists.
“While the Government expects to save RM40mil with the abolition of the policy by recouping allowances given to teachers to teach the subjects, what about the amount to be spent on reprinting textbooks to be translated into Bahasa Malaysia? Who will make money? Who will end up losing?” Abdul Razak said.

tunku : very true what lee hui seng said above.the government should listen to the silent majority not the noisy minority. our children future are at stake just because these politicians and the so called "pejuang bahasa".PPSMI is not about english alone, it is to acquire the knowledge and to be master in science and maths. if the government still think that it should be taught in bahasa malaysia, do it in primary schools only, PPSMI should be implemented in secondary school onwards although we the majority thinks that it should start from the beginning that is at the primary level..the government SHOULD listen to the majority.