[lg policy] Malaysia: English-medium schools unlikely

[Harold Schiffman]

English-medium schools unlikely
By PRIYA KULASAGARAN
educate at thestar.com.my

SERDANG: English-medium schools are unlikely to make a comeback due to
the country's education policy, said the Deputy Prime Minister.

The current policy required the Malay language to be the medium of
instruction in national schools, said Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

“This is a question of the national education policy.

“It is not possible for us to set up national English-medium schools
unless changes are made to the policy and the National Education Act
(1996). It's a different story for private schools,” said Muhyiddin,
who is also Education Minister, after attending a dialogue session
with Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) academic staff and students here.

“However, we have consented for national-type (vernacular) schools to
use the Chinese and Tamil languages (as the medium of instruction).”

Section 17 of the National Education Act 1996 states that the national
language must be the main medium of instruction in all educational
institutions under the national education system.  The Act also
provides an exemption to this rule for national-type schools or any
other institution exempted by the Minister himself. Earlier at the
dialogue session, Muhyiddin said that while the English language was
important to master, the national language should not be forgotten.

“We don't want the national language to be left behind, but at the
same time, we cannot deny the importance of the English language.
“This is why the Government has taken many measures, such as employing
native speakers as teachers, increasing the hours for English in the
classroom; if this is not enough, we will introduce more initiatives,”
he said.On a separate matter, Muhyiddin said UPM might have the chance
to take over Serdang Hospital as its own.

“We understand that UPM is the only university with a medical faculty
that is yet to have its own hospital. “The Higher Education Minister
has already prepared the necessary working paper, and we will present
this to the Cabinet in the near future,” he said.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/10/1/nation/9610007&sec=nation

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