<div dir="ltr"><div class="">Ridding compulsory pass in English was big mistake </div>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%">
<tbody><tr>
<td><div style="font-size:11px;color:rgb(0,102,153)">Published on: Friday, May 29, 2015</div></td>
<td align="right"><br></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<p>
<b>Kota Kinabalu:</b> The government should maintain English not just
as a compulsory subject to take but also compulsory to pass so that
people will take it seriously, said a language policy expert. </p><p>
Prof Datuk Dr Saran Kaur Gill said if English was not compulsory to pass
many people would not take it seriously, especially in the rural areas
where they cannot see the impact and value of it. </p><p>
"It's different maybe for the urban areas and for those who come from
middle-income environments, the parents would push the children but not
those who don't have the awareness. </p><p>
"This is why every time, every step of the way, when you look at the
history of language policy in Malaysia, you cannot deal with one without
the other," said Gill who is Professor of Macro-Sociolinguistics
(Language Policy and Planning) at the School of Language Studies and
Linguistics at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities in
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). </p><p>
Discussing her work on language policy and view on the country's
transition in the medium of instruction (English to Bahasa Malaysia),
she said one cannot deal with the role of English in Malaysia without
dealing with the role of Bahasa Melayu. </p><p>
"You see we are a colonial country. Like most colonial countries, the
medium of instruction, the set-up of the educational system was largely
in English. </p><p>
"Then, when you attain independence, there is a strong feeling for many
nations to want to exert their sense of nationalism and one of the main
ways that is exerted is through developing your national language, which
usually is the language of the dominant ethnic group, Bahasa Melayu,"
she said. </p><p>
In the process to establish the national language, it had to compete with English, which is a strong international language. </p><p>
"That is why the government had to reduce its (English) role. </p><p>
You know many people cannot understand why they did that but that is the
main reason," said Gill who had authored several books with the latest
entitled Language Policy Challenges in Multi-Ethnic Malaysia. </p><p>
"It moved from the medium of instruction to become a language subject
which was not even compulsory to pass – just compulsory to take (and) it
has just become compulsory to pass again. </p><p>
"Therein lay the biggest mistake the government made. </p><p>
It's okay if you want to reduce the profile of English and reduce it to a
subject but you have to still maintain that it should be compulsory,"
she said. </p><p>
Meanwhile, in KUALA LUMPUR, improving education in science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics (Stem) subjects by all governments is one
of the five recommendations made at the International Science,
Technology and Innovation Centre for South-South Cooperation
(ISTIC)-Unesco International Forum and Seminar on the United Nations'
(UN) Post-2015 Development Agenda. </p><p>
ISTIC Governing Board chairman Datuk Dr Lee Yee Cheong said the other
four recommendations were education ministries should implement small
scale but high quality pilot project on proven hands on inquiry-based
methods of science teaching and more time be given for science subjects
to enable teachers to carry-out inquiry-based science approaches. </p><p>
He said schools should be given greater autonomy in choosing textbooks
and science curriculum, and Stem teachers should have access to
continuous professional development on delivery methods to encourage
enquiry thinking. </p><p>
The recommendation was made with reference to the United Nations
Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG) No.4, which is to ensure
inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life-long learning
opportunities, he said. </p><p>
A total of 350 delegates from 33 countries participated in the three-day forum and seminar. <br></p><p><a href="http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=100239">http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=100239</a><br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
</div>