Fatimah receives a bouquet of flowers from British Council English Language Services director Katie Butler.
KUCHING: The percentage of students failing the English language in their public exams has been called “scary” by Minister of Welfare, Women and Family Development Datuk Fatimah Abdullah.
She made the remarks when closing the English Language Teacher Development Programme (ELTDP) Symposium 2015 yesterday.
“For Sarawak, it is very scary indeed, since the percentage of failures in the English language in public exams like Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) increased from 19.4 per cent in 2013 to 23.16 percent in 2014.
“Out of 30,000 students taking the subject in 2014, the percentage figure indicates that about one quarter failed in the subject. It sounds very alarming as from 2016, it is compulsory to pass the English subject apart from Bahasa Malaysia and History or else the students cannot get their certificates,” she said.
However, Fatimah said she is optimistic that efforts by the Ministry of Education and the British Council in upskilling English language teachers would ensure proficiency in English improves.
She said apart from the Native Speaker Programme by the ministry, the right teachers with the right attitude are also necessary.
“Teachers must be willing to change and must have the right attitude so that they know where their weaknesses are and they must be willing to improve, be proactive and of course being given the opportunity will make a lot of difference in learning the language. That is why we want the British Council to continue having the programme,” she said.
Fatimah said she was very happy to hear that teachers working with mentors under the Native Speakers Programme have shown a high level of professionalism and commitment.
“I am sure that the programme is very helpful and has increased our teachers’ confidence as now the emphasis is to bring fun and creative learning into our classrooms and to change the perception that learning English is difficult,” she said.
She noted that the ELTDP programme also covers rural areas and urged teachers to play their part in supporting such initiatives.