Published on: Monday, November 19, 2007 |
Kota Kinabalu: The State Education Department will support and carry out accordingly if there is a directive from the Education Ministry to revert to the teaching of Science and Maths in Bahasa Malaysia.
Its Director Puan Normah Gagoh said for now the Department has implemented the teaching and learning of Science and Maths in English (PPSMI) since its introduction in 2003.
"Beginning that year, English is used as the medium of instruction for teaching Science and Maths in Primary One, Form One and Lower Six classes. As implementers, we support any policy formulated by the Education Ministry.
"Currently, starting from Year One up to Year Five, the teaching-learning process for the two subjects is fully in English.
Just as we have adhered to the PPSMI policy so far, so will we follow any new policy of the Ministry relating to the teaching and learning of these two critical subjects if directed to do so," she said when met at her office at Rumah Persekutuan here.
The policy applies to all government primary and secondary schools, government-aided primary and secondary schools and Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil (SJKT) in the country.
Based on a 2002 circular from the Education Ministry, Normah said Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (C) or Chinese-medium schools have a different approach in that teachers in these schools are allowed to teach Science and Maths in both English and Mandarin.
"In fact, these schools spend more time on teaching the two subjects in Mandarin than in English. According to the time-table, 90 minutes are allotted for teaching Science in English while 210 minutes are spent on teaching the subject in Mandarin. Likewise, 120 minutes are set aside for teaching Mathematics in English while 180 minutes are spent on teaching the subject in Mandarin," she pointed out.
The Director was asked to comment on Umno Youth's call to the Government to revert to the teaching of Mathematics and Science in Bahasa Malaysia in schools if teaching the subjects in English does not meet the objective.
Its Deputy Chief Khairy Jamaluddin had said at the Umno General Assembly on Thursday that based on feedback from the grassroots, using the English Language has hampered students' understanding of the subjects.
"We (Department) believe that Umno Youth had conducted a study and analysis on the outcome of implementing the policy throughout the country since 2003 before raising the matter at the assembly," Normah said, adding that Umno has an Education Bureau, among others.
She admitted that in Sabah, teachers have problems teaching Maths and Science in English, particularly in the rural areas, because most of them are not English-educated in the first place.
"In Sabah, the transition from using English to Bahasa Malaysia as the main medium of instruction took place in 1973. For any teacher to master the skill of teaching certain subjects in English takes a long time. Lack of proficiency and lack of confidence on the part of the teacher concerned are setbacks."
Normah said this was reflected in the way the subjects were taught where teachers, due to their deficiency, preferred to write more, than communicating with the students.
"We made this observation from our monitoring, inspection by the Inspectorate of Schools and reports from school authorities. The teaching-learning process should be a two-way communication. I really feel sorry for the teachers."
Twenty-two per cent of schools in Sabah are located in urban centres while the rest (78 per cent) are found in the rural areas.
While conceding there is an improvement in the learning of English as a subject, Normah contended that mastery of Maths and Science in English would be less possible for the 78 per cent rural schools, given their lack of English background.
"Don't just look at the good performance in urban schools. But then not all urban schools are achievers. We must also be realistic about current conditions in rural areas including the relatively low socio-economic status of most parents who are also not well versed in English and therefore unable to monitor their children's homework. So I can understand if parents in rural areas welcome the call made by Umno Youth."
Sabah's other peculiarity, she added, is the presence of 400 Sekolah Kurang Murid (Schools with a shortage of pupils), made up of both Malay and Chinese medium schools, mainly in rural areas.
"Some have only 20 pupils eachÉhow to teach Science and Maths in English in these schools, given the stark shortage of English-trained teachers?"
According to Normah, the six-week conversion programme and the English for Teaching Maths and Science (ETEMS) strategy for training teachers to teach in English were not adequate.
"Furthermore, Sabah has a unique situation because of a wide variety of ethnic communities. For children in rural areas, English becomes a third language after their mother tongue and Bahasa Malaysia as the national language. Teaching in English becomes increasingly difficult as we go into the interior parts of the State."
She said Sabah's PMR (Lower Secondary Achievement Test) results for Maths and Science were quite consistent in 2005 and 2006 except for a slight drop in 2006. "This is because students are allowed to answer the questions in either Bahasa Malaysia or English. It will be a different story if the papers are set strictly in English in future."
For this year's UPSR (Primary School Assessment Test), pupils sat for Science and Maths in Bahasa Malaysia as they were taught in this language. Normah said they were not affected by the requirement to teach the two subjects in English from 2003.
"By right, all UPSR pupils will have to sit for the two papers in English next year in accordance with the Ministry's circular in 2002. But it has just been revised as announced by the Education Minister.
"The Maths and Science papers will continue to be set in both Bahasa Malaysia and English until 2010."
