PPSMI : No clear answers from the Ministry

By Sandra Rajoo

Many felt disappointed and let down by the decision taken by the Ministry of Education (MOE) to abolish PPSMI. No matter how lengthy the arguments presented by the MOE, they still fall short.

Saying that teachers have to use Bahasa Malaysia to cater to students who do not understand English does not present a true picture of what is happening in schools. The problem does not lie entirely with the students; difficulty arose because of teachers’ proficiency too. When PPSMI was introduced almost 7 years ago, no proper groundwork was laid to prepare for the transition. Teachers who had been teaching in BM all the while were forced to switch to English. Imagine the difficulty. The MOE implemented some programmes to help these teachers but unfortunately the momentum lasted only a couple of years. After that, as usual, everything died a natural death. By right, Heads of schools should have been tasked with ensuring that teachers conscientiously and continuously upgrade their proficiency, at the same time providing the necessary support. Lack of seriousness and commitment has led to the demise of good policies.

The MOE says the policy is ‘flawed’ but provides no lucid analysis to support this assertion. Surely such a pronouncement requires more substantial and clear arguments.  Merely quoting two researches done by two university educationists in my view, is quite inadequate. Who the respondents were, which schools were involved, what the actual findings are etc., are not clearly outlined or explained. We would certainly like to read the actual findings in order to draw our own conclusions. Merely making general statements to justify a reversal of policy seems like a tactic to lull the unsuspecting public to go along with its ideas without question. The Ministry has a research arm, EPRD, but correct me if I am wrong, they did not conduct any study on this very important matter. Why so?

Notwithstanding all the arguments about English being the language of Science and Technology, doing away with PPSMI at this point when there is nothing to take its place where English is concerned, is short-sighted and unwise. The MOE keeps talking about its Strengthening English Language Usage (MBI) policy but so far nothing of value has come of it.  The first Year 1 English textbook for 2011 produced for such a purpose was found to be riddled with so many language errors it had to be recalled in the middle of this year. Apart from the millions of Ringgit gone to waste, in those six months one can only assume our children had picked up some really bad English! So, how does this fit into the MBI aspiration? Considering that the Ministry has direct control over the publication of school textbooks, it begs the question as to why a Year 1 book can turn out to be such a mess.  Can the MOE ever get the textbook problem sorted out? It remains to be seen.

The public is also appalled by the recent PMR English paper which was riddled with language mistakes as well. The Examinations Syndicate should be taken to task for this fiasco. Why is the Ministry not serious about its own MBI policy? How does it expect schools and teachers to respond if it cannot climb out of its own abyss of apathy and inertia?

Also, the hiring of a few hundred British and American teachers to ‘help’ us sounds grand but it is really an ad hoc measure. Is there a framework against which the outcome of this exercise can be gauged? Who is assessing the situation on the ground? Can we justify the amount of money spent? All these questions beg answers. One cannot turn decades of negligence into success overnight with the hiring of a few native speakers.

The MOE keeps insisting that parents should be more supportive. Contrary to what it believes, parents are all for making our education system a success. Many parents have argued for PPSMI to continue. At least give schools the option to choose. Good sense tells us that all parents will support good and sound education policies that come with proper implementation procedures.  If such policies go against good practices, parents will be doing a disservice and injustice to their children and the nation if they do not voice their displeasure.