TAWAU: The member of parliament here, Datuk Chua Soon Bui, supported the call of the Parents Action Group for Education (PAGE) to the government to let parents choose the language they want their children to be taught in Science and Mathematics.
Commenting on the PPSMI (Science and Mathematics in English) issue yesterday, Chua said he parents should have the alternative or choice whether to have their children learn the two subjects in English or Bahasa Malaysia.
"We do not want every time there is a change of education minister, there is a change in policy. It is not fair to our children," she said.
"Firstly, if our country wants to be globally competitive, with such policy changes it is bad for our country. Every few years there is a change. especially by 2020 we want to be a developed, competitive and high income nation," she said.
Chua said it could not be denied that English is one of the important languages used globally and in the internet.
"It is the common language, globally it is still English," she pointed out.
However, she said in view of the limited number of English teachers, the government could maintain the two subjects to be taught in English where the English teachers are ample, especially in the urban areas.
"I am sure in urban areas, parents will opt for English compared to rural areas. For the Chinese primary schools, we like to maintain and strengthen their English so when they go to secondary school, they can capture the language," she said.
"It means in our multi-racial society our young people will be equipped with various languages and skills and be more competitive in the global arena," she said.
Chua added the country has more than one million expatriates working overseas and a majority of them are weII verse in English.
"I urge the Ministry of Education to set a total policy, not today the director says something new and the minister says something new they should do it with practicality," she said.
The Borneo Post
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Page A4
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