Govt to seek parents’ input on Science and Maths teaching
(The Star) – SEOUL: The Government will seek input from parents before deciding on the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English in schools, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
The Education Ministry, he said, would also study if it was possible for the subjects to be taught in English in selected schools without interrupting the teaching and learning process.
“We have not made any commitment on this yet and we need to assess the feeling of parents. We want to see if it is possible to have some flexibility on this,” he told reporters covering his official visit here yesterday.
Najib said this in response to a proposal by MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek for both subjects to be taught in English, particularly in selected urban schools.
Dr Chua had said that parents should be given a choice to select the language for these subjects in schools which had trained teachers.
The Cabinet had in July last year decided that the medium of instruction for Mathematics and Science would revert to Bahasa Malaysia in national schools and mother-tongue languages in national-type schools from 2012 onwards.
On a separate matter, Najib said the Government was aware that there were many illegals in Sabah and that steps would be taken to check this.
He was commenting on a request by the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) that the Government set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate the influx of illegal immigrants who even had Malaysian identity cards.
The party collected about 50,000 signatures calling for a commission to be set up for the purpose.
“A Cabinet committee chaired by my deputy (Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin) is already looking into this. We will take remedial measures continuously,” he said.
SAPP officials had alleged that there were an estimated 1.7 million Sabah citizens of unknown origin. They had also claimed that the state had a higher population than Sarawak although Sabah’s population was much lower than its neighbour in the 1970s.
On another note, the Prime Minister refused to comment on the sex video clip allegedly depicting an opposition leader that was uploaded on YouTube.
“I don’t wish to comment on that. I have said it before, that the people should be left to assess this,” he added.
