Why didn't the ministry settle these issues before school starts? They have so much time for preparation! If they cannot handle such minor issues, how can we expect them to plan the best for our children? I don't blame the school or teachers but the ministry.
THE Education Ministry has no plans to reintroduce the teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics in English (PPSMI).
This was stated in the written reply to William Leong (PH-Selayang), who wanted to know if there was such a plan and what would be done to overcome the previous weaknesses in the policy.
The policy was first introduced in 2003 when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was the fourth prime minister, but it was abolished in 2011.In 2016, the government introduced the Dual Language Programme, where selected schools were given the option to teach Science and Mathematics in Malay or English.
When Dr Mahathir became prime minister again in 2018, he announced that a Cabinet committee had been formed to study the reintroduction of PPSMI.
In another written reply, the ministry said the Cabinet had decided that Jawi lessons would be continued in vernacular and government-
aided missionary schools if approved by parent-teacher associations (PTAs).
The ministry said that on Aug 14 last year, the then Cabinet decided to reduce the number of pages for Jawi script syllabus for Year 4 pupils from six pages to three.
“The ministry will also look into matters related to Jawi writing in a holistic manner. For the time being, the decision made by the previous Cabinet remains, ” it told Steven Sim (PH-Bukit Mertajam).
Meanwhile, over 40% of students relied on smartphones to access home-based online learning lessons during the movement control order (MCO) period, the Education Ministry revealed.
In a written reply, it said a survey conducted from March 28 to April 2 involving 670,118 parents of 893,331 students found that 46.5% used smartphones for the purpose.
The survey showed that 6% of the students had personal computers, 9.3% had laptops and 5.8% used tablets.
“Some students owned more than one device that was used for their online lessons.“At the same time, 36.9% of students did not have any device with which they could follow online lessons, ” the ministry said in reply to Teo Nie Ching (PH-Kulai), who asked about the effectiveness of home-based learning due to the MCO.The ministry said the survey showed that a large number of students could not effectively participate in the online classes held due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
It said restrictions due to limited Internet access also presented a challenge as the learning was not done in a holistic and uniform manner for all students.
“Online learning was also something new to many teachers, students and parents. They needed time to adjust to the new method, ” the ministry stated.
It said although home-based learning was implemented throughout the MCO, there were other challenges that had to be faced.
The diversity of students in terms of demographics and socio-economic standing directly impacted the efficiency of home-based learning, it added.
The ministry said to help students who did not have access to the Internet or devices for online learning, home-based learning was also broadcast on radio and TV.
Materials were also sent to students via post, PTAs and drive-through counters at schools.
Both my children were lucky when maths and science were taught in English during Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s days as prime minister. One of my children is now an actuary and the other is a chemist in US.
Many of their classmates, Malays and non-Malays, are working as doctors, pharmacists, and chemists in the UK, Australia, Canada, and in Malaysia as well.
They have Mahathir to thank for the opportunity to study maths and science in English as they didn't have much difficulty doing their undergraduate courses in English.
Whatever the Malay-Muslim government wants to do with the education system is not my worry anymore. My future generation is finding better opportunity overseas.
So much for science and technology. It’s a pity, only the far-sighted among the Malay parents will guide their young in the right direction, with the cream of the crop going to Mara colleges around the nation.
That’s because they know the importance of being multilingual and the importance of English mastery for future advancement in the global arena. However, the rest who do not will be languishing in our national schools which will become mini madrasahs.
The Indian children, after six years in Tamil schools, will also be in the same boat. The Chinese are safe as they made the very good decision of insisting that they have their way when it came to educating their young, even if it meant that they would have to pay for that choice.
I can see there are some complaints in the comments section on Jawi and not teaching math and science in English. However, the protest is far lower compared to when Pakatan Harapan was in government.
Last time, comments numbered into the hundreds and even the United Chinese School Committees’ Association of Malaysia (Dong Zong) marched to the Education Ministry making demands.
Now under PN, we only see just some complaints here and there. Does this mean it’s better to have the PN government which sees fewer protests compared to the Harapan government?
Probably those who used to protest now see it as futile because no one in PN would listen to them. I bet you wish Harapan was back and regret calling Harapan a one-term government to teach them a lesson, huh?
If you think about it, it is actually a brilliant strategy. Keep a large number of the population backwards, they will presumably find it harder to get jobs due to lack of skill, and they will be paid less.
This populace will continue to feel slighted by the “richer” part of the population and hence guaranteeing a voter bank for race-based political parties.
Keeping the country in the dumps only benefits Umno and PAS. Any move to improve public knowledge through education will be seen as a threat to those in power. The “dumbing down” is intentional.
Also, very expensive private education, which is owned or controlled by certain politically-connected parties, will benefit the elites. Win-win for those in power, lose-lose for citizens.
Education is like a football. It can be kicked however you like. No wonder the education standard, especially in science, mathematics, technology and English, is so far behind other countries.
Malaysia will continue to fall behind if it treats education like a political football. Its mastery of English was once among the best but now, college graduates can’t even speak properly.
How can Malaysia compete on the world stage? There must be consistency, no matter which party is in charge of the government.
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Posted by JessicaSimpsons > 2020-07-16 10:04 | Report Abuse
stay put guys