Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin also said that vernacular schools will receive equal support as public schools from the government.
UPDATED
KUALA LUMPUR: English will be made a mandatory passing subject for all students sitting for their Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) from 2016, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also Education Minister announced today.
He said the government has placed emphasis on English to strengthen students’ grasp of the subject, with an intention of producing a globalised generation.
“English will be given emphasis and as announced earlier this year, it will be made a compulsory passing subject for SPM students by 2016,” Muhyiddin said today during the launch of the National Education Blueprint (PPPM) 2013-2025 here.
“To realise this, the ministry is currently in the process of increasing contact hours (between teachers and students) in classes so deeper immersion in the English language for the students,” he added.
Muhyiddin also said that English teachers will be made to undergo the Cambridge Placement Test (CPT) to gauge their knowledge in the language.
“The first batch of 5,000 teachers have participated in the training by the British Council. Nine thousand English teachers will undergo the same training in October,” he said.
Along with English, Muhyiddin said that the government will continue to place strong emphasis on the Malay language to uphold unity and national identity among the people.
“To strengthen both languages, the PPPM has highlighted a few initiatives. Among those are to improve the Malay curriculum in vernacular schools.
“For students who are weak, additional classes will be conducted outside schooling hours and this will not affect teaching time and their other classes,” he said.
‘More hours in vernacular schools’
Asked to elaborate on what he meant by “increasing contact hours”, Muhyiddin said his ministry was mulling increasing schooling hours in vernacular schools about one or two hours a day.
“Initially, we proposed to increase contact hours by 270 minutes a week. This was accepted by Tamil schools but there was strong opposition by the Chinese schools.
“Eventually, we came to a compromise and the current proposal stands at 240 minutes a week. That would mean an extra one to two hours a day in contact hours to improve Malay curriculum in vernacular schools,” he added.
Muhyiddin acknowledged that some vernacular schools have two schooling sessions, thus the government would study the proposal thoroughly before implementation.
“We will implement it through several phases. It won’t be at once. We will find the way to accomodate students and teachers, as well as parents,” he said.
The Pagoh MP also assured that all vernacular schools will receive equal access, equity and education quality like government schools.
“The government has no intention to neglect any school stream in the country. The existence of vernacular schools is protected under section 28 of the Education Act 1966 and I want to state that the use of (Tamil and Chinese) as a language for education has never been denied.”
UPDATED
KUALA LUMPUR: English will be made a mandatory passing subject for all students sitting for their Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) from 2016, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also Education Minister announced today.He said the government has placed emphasis on English to strengthen students’ grasp of the subject, with an intention of producing a globalised generation.
“English will be given emphasis and as announced earlier this year, it will be made a compulsory passing subject for SPM students by 2016,” Muhyiddin said today during the launch of the National Education Blueprint (PPPM) 2013-2025 here.
“To realise this, the ministry is currently in the process of increasing contact hours (between teachers and students) in classes so deeper immersion in the English language for the students,” he added.
Muhyiddin also said that English teachers will be made to undergo the Cambridge Placement Test (CPT) to gauge their knowledge in the language.
“The first batch of 5,000 teachers have participated in the training by the British Council. Nine thousand English teachers will undergo the same training in October,” he said.
Along with English, Muhyiddin said that the government will continue to place strong emphasis on the Malay language to uphold unity and national identity among the people.
“To strengthen both languages, the PPPM has highlighted a few initiatives. Among those are to improve the Malay curriculum in vernacular schools.
“For students who are weak, additional classes will be conducted outside schooling hours and this will not affect teaching time and their other classes,” he said.
‘More hours in vernacular schools’
Asked to elaborate on what he meant by “increasing contact hours”, Muhyiddin said his ministry was mulling increasing schooling hours in vernacular schools about one or two hours a day.
“Initially, we proposed to increase contact hours by 270 minutes a week. This was accepted by Tamil schools but there was strong opposition by the Chinese schools.
“Eventually, we came to a compromise and the current proposal stands at 240 minutes a week. That would mean an extra one to two hours a day in contact hours to improve Malay curriculum in vernacular schools,” he added.
Muhyiddin acknowledged that some vernacular schools have two schooling sessions, thus the government would study the proposal thoroughly before implementation.
“We will implement it through several phases. It won’t be at once. We will find the way to accomodate students and teachers, as well as parents,” he said.
The Pagoh MP also assured that all vernacular schools will receive equal access, equity and education quality like government schools.
“The government has no intention to neglect any school stream in the country. The existence of vernacular schools is protected under section 28 of the Education Act 1966 and I want to state that the use of (Tamil and Chinese) as a language for education has never been denied.”
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