A SCHOOL year is about to begin and the Education Ministry is ending the year on a note of optimism. Among the “success stories” is the good results achieved by students who took Science and Mathematics in English in the recent Penilaian Menengah Rendah examinations.
May I congratulate the teachers who, under difficult conditions, adapted well to the pressure of changing the medium of instruction from Bahasa Malaysia to English for these two subjects?
May I also encourage those teachers who are still weak in the English language, to improve their command of the language as quickly as possible so as to further advance the teaching of these two subjects in English?
Let those who were doubtful and sceptical about the ability of teachers to teach these two subjects in English now keep silent so that the teachers may get on with their good work.
I hope lecturers in universities will also take heart from this success story and be encouraged to make the switch from BM to English in their respective subjects as soon as possible.
However, as the saying goes, a swallow does not a summer make. I would like to remind the Education Ministry that there are many things that need to be done or rectified – before it can claim to provide a world-class education,
It is a fact that many students leave school without the right skills for the job market, and that many who graduate from local universities today are unable to find jobs unless they undergo further retraining.
The real test is of an education system is when the students go into the world to seek jobs – and it is here that many of our students fail miserably.
Those of us who have worked in the education service may realise that in recent years, there have been calls for a complete overhaul of the system, from the curriculum used in schools right down to the assessment system.
Changes have been promised in the Ninth Malaysia Plan. Let us hope these proposed changes are based on needs assessment and will address the present faults and weaknesses of the education system.
If you look at the changing structure of global economies, Malaysia can no longer depend on natural resources or on supplying cheap labour.
We need a highly-skilled, techno-savvy, innovative work force in order to compete successfully in the new world market.
I hope our teachers can be retrained to take up the challenges of the modern day, and that the new year will see more concrete steps taken to bring about much-needed changes in our education system.
VICTOR CHEW
Via e-mail
(The Star - 1 Jan 2006)
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