Treat Chinese education as a national issue – Chua

By Michael Teh

KUALA LUMPUR: The government should treat Chinese education as a national issue, said the MP for Tawau Datuk Chua Soon Bui.

She said this because 36% of students in Chinese primary schools in Sabah are non-Chinese or the Bumiputeras and this also existed in Sarawak.

"Even though there are less non-Chinese students in Chinese schools in Peninsular Malaysia, Chinese education should be handled as a national issue, as all Malaysians should be given a choice to be educated in the language of their choice,” she said.

She thus urged the Prime Minister to give more allocation to the Gaya and Kent teachers training colleges in  Sabah, citing that both have produced many qualified and capable teachers to teach in Chinese primary schools in both Sabah and Sarawak.

A committee member of the Sabah Progressive Education Fund (SPEF) Chua went on to note that since its inception in1996, the fund has assisted more than 1,000 teachers to complete the training course to help ease the shortage of trained Chinese language teachers, especially in Sabah.

Education group gets MP’s support

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

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Minister should not change education policy at his whims and fancy-SAPP

KOTA KINABALU: The Malaysian government should be firm with its education policy in order to be on par with its peers internationally, Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) deputy president Datuk Eric Majimbun said.

The education policy must not be changed at the whims and fancy of the minister, the Sepanggar member of parliament said when commenting on the government's decision to revert the teaching of Science and Mathematics to Bahasa MaIaysia.

Deputy Prime Minister cum Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said that the decision was in the best interest of the country's 5.3 million students.

Muhyiddin added that while some parents may object to the move, the government had to consider the interests of the majority of Malaysians.

"This decision was not done in haste. It was done after careful study, and consultations with various groups. We did many things before we reached the decision," he said.

He added that parents who objected to the decision to abolish the Learning of Science and Mathematics in English (PPSMI) programme were entitled to their opinion.

Muhyiddin said the government had to listen not only to parents, but also consider the interests of millions of students nationwide and the 500,000 teachers at the more than 10,000 schools.

He said even with the decision to scrap the PPSMI, Malaysian students would still be given priority to learn English through the newpolicy of Upholding Bahasa Malaysia and Upholding English (MBM-MBI) to be implemented from next year.

Eric in a statement yesterday was of the opinion that the government's decision will cause problems to the student in the country.

"Why take 10 precious years for our children to master Science and Mathematics in a Ianguage that is internationally recognized and then change the policy for the sake ofpolitical needs.

“Why punish the innocent children," he said and added that the government is to be blamed for the issue.

"Ask the Umno leaders where their children study. I bet you 100 per cent that they are studying overseas, where English is the main language.

"The only reason for these leaders to send their children to foreign countries is to get better knowledge so that they can continue to work overseas. or else when they come back they can grab all the best places in the government and private sector posts because they have a better command of English leaving those who are local educated marginalized," he lamented.

The Borneo Post

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

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