Malaysia drops English for math, science classes

Malaysia is to abandon teaching math and science in English, saying that far too many children from poor rural areas were being failed by the program.

The decision to start phasing out English medium teaching from 2012 has been backed by the government and Malaysia's main opposition parties, despite concerns that using the national language, Bahasa Malaysia, will undermine competitiveness.

Malaysia has said recently that it wants to attract more high-value investment in areas like banking and finance, industries that are global and typically demand good English.

Instead of teaching math and science in English, a policy started in 2003, the government will double the time spent on English lessons for primary children and increase that for secondary school children by half.

It said it would hire an additional 14,000 teachers to teach English as a language.

'I would not say it was a complete failure, but it did not achieve what it was supposed to achieve,' Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin told a news conference on Wednesday.

A recent report from Morgan Stanley showed that Malaysia's tertiary enrolment and completion ratios were six and seven percentage points behind the average countries with a similar level of income per capita.

That leaves it at a disadvantage as it seeks to tap into foreign investment which is increasingly using countries like China and Vietnam which have larger domestic markets and bigger reservoirs of cheap labor.

I would not say it was a complete failure, but it did not achieve what it was supposed to achieve

Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin

Neighboring Singapore split from becoming part of Malaysia and retained English as the primary language of education. The city state has emerged as one of the richest nations on earth with a per capita income of $51,649 in 2008 while Malaysia's is $14,225, based on 2008 data.

Critics said that the changes to use Bahasa Malaysia would not achieve the desired effect of enfranchising the rural poor or of boosting English language skills and said the move was largely political, aimed at appeasing the Malay majority.

'What has not occurred to the authorities is that the education system requires very competent teachers,' said Khoo Kay Kim, emeritus professor at the University of Malaya's history department, adding that politicians were driving the change due to their personal agenda.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was educated in an English-medium school in Kuala Lumpur and later in a private school in England, while opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, was educated at the elite English-speaking Malay College.

Khoo also warned that the move could increase divisions along racial lines in this country of 27 million people where 55 percent are ethnic Malays and there are sizeable ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities.

'There is an emphasis on separation, not integration, today,' Khoo said.

What has not occurred to the authorities is that the education system requires very competent teachers

Khoo Kay Kim, emeritus professor at the University of Malaya\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s history department