Wee said the Cabinet has decided on the issue. — File pic
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 18 — Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong has confirmed the government has no plans to backtrack on its decision to abolish the teaching of Maths and Science in English despite relentless efforts by a pro-English lobby group to reverse the policy.
Wee also denied that the decision to stop the policy, known as PPSMI (Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik dalam bahasa Inggeris), was politically motivated as alleged by the group, the Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE).
“The reversal of the PPSMI was done through four roundtable discussions, so after much deliberation the Cabinet made its decision based on the findings,” he told The Malaysian Insider yesterday.
Wee shook his head when asked if the move was the Barisan Nasional’s strategy to recoup its loss of the Malay rural vote in Election 2008, as alleged by PAGE members.
“No, no. Even the Chinese schools wanted the teaching instruction of the subjects to be in Bahasa Malaysia. Just take a simple example and seek comments from some professional groups and you will know,” he said.
Wee acknowledged that PAGE planned on press on with its campaign to pressure the government into reintroducing the PPSMI, but admitted that the Cabinet had no plans yet to do so.
“This is the Cabinet’s decision. It is the supreme authority. We have to adhere to what has been decided by the Cabinet,” he said.
PAGE has been on a two-year campaign since the government decided to abolish PPSMI and recently embarked on a nationwide roadshow in a bid to expand its membership.
But the third instalment of a forum held at the Bar Council building here last night saw feeble response, triggering talk that it was time for PAGE to throw in the towel.
Admitting that the struggle had nearly reached a dead end, PAGE chairman Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim suggested at the forum that the group call it a day.
“We speak about blasting (promoting) this out through the Internet and all that, and we blasted for today but look at what we have.
“We did blast and blasted for a week so if this is an indication of the so-called tsunami we hope to achieve ... I think we should throw in the towel,” she said.
Her suggestion met with protests from participants but the crestfallen Noor Azimah pointed out that “it has already been two years, you know.”
“And it’s not that people do not know about us. The media has given us fantastic support ... some politicians even envy me because I get more media coverage than they do,” she said.
PAGE activists and members also conceded during the forum that the major stumbling block in their fight was politics and in their decision to avoid using violence and aggression to achieve their goals.
During the discussion, one parent complained about the lacklustre response the group was receiving and suggested that it uses more “kurang ajar” tactics to have its arguments heard.
“Look at the ‘Interlok’ issue. Perhaps we may need to start burning books and demonstrating too so that the government hears us,” said the agitated parent.
But Noor Azimah insisted that PAGE’s fight was for the education rights of children, saying that as role models it was important not to resort to such tactics to win support for their cause.
She told The Malaysian Insider later that despite the response, PAGE had no choice but to press on with its campaign until the government agreed with its views on the issue.
“We just have to press on, I guess. It is very difficult ... it has been two years. But giving up is not an option yet.
“We have to continue for the sake of the children,” she said.
PAGE will be submitting its sixth memorandum to the prime minister at the latter’s office in Putrajaya tomorrow.
In the government’s new policy, the medium of instruction for Maths and Science for Form One students will remain strictly in Bahasa Malaysia from next year.
For Standard One children this year, both subjects will also be taught strictly in Bahasa Malaysia.
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