KUCHING: Parents and students should have a say over the teaching and learning medium for Science and Mathematics.
The Ministry of Education should make it optional — as to whether the teaching of Science and Mathematics be in English or Bahasa Malaysia, said Kuching Hainan Association women chief Tan Goi Hua.
“Personally, I say English is a better choice given its importance in the global arena. The Education Ministry should seriously consider English as the teaching medium.
“We shall never politicise education for if we do we would be putting our children in a dilemma,” she said before Deputy Works Minister Datuk Yong Khoon Seng presented scrolls to BahasaMalaysiaclass students at the association’s premises here yesterday.
Tan believed that teaching the two subjects concerned in English would do more good than harm to Malaysian students particularly those aiming to further their studies abroad.
“We hope the government and Ministry of Education would continue the policy of teaching Science and Mathematics in English for the betterment of our children,” she said.
On Nov 4, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced that students who had started learning Science and Mathematics in English would continue to do so until they completed their studies in Form Five.
The Education Minister added that schools would have the option to teach Science and Mathematics fully in English, BahasaMalaysiaor bilingually.
Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) had previously sent a memorandum to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, calling for the PPSMI (the teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics in English) policy to be retained as an option for some schools.