EDUCATORS and parent groups have criticised the government for the general decline in English proficiency in Malaysia.

They said the government must stop making excuses and start boosting the competencies of local English teachers.

Former educator Geetha K. said fluency in English in Malaysia has been deteriorating for at least two generations.

“Government after government, education minister after education minister, has pursued misguided agendas, replacing meritocracy with mediocrity under the guise of nationalism. This has led to our current pathetic state of English proficiency, a decline that has been systematically ignored despite repeated warnings and constructive input from well-meaning, qualified stakeholders,” Geetha told The Malaysian Insight.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said he had discussed with his Singapore counterpart, Lawrence Wong, the possibility of sending teachers across the Causeway to Malaysia.

Geetha said the problem lies in the teachers in government schools.

“Compare today’s teachers with those of two generations ago, and the difference is stark. Gone are the Mrs Rajs, Mr Pereiras, Mrs Chans, and a different type of Puan Maimunahs who once ensured a high standard of English education. With the deliberate eradication of this breed of teachers went the quality of English and, by extension, the overall standard of the Malaysian education system,” said Geetha, who had been an educator for two decades.

She argued that even if Malaysia were to import teachers from Britain’s Ivy League institutions, it would not remedy this lamentable self-imposed situation.

“The root of the problem is the insincerity of policymakers who refuse to acknowledge this truth. It’s as simple as that,” she said.

Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia chairman Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim admitted the lack of quality in local English language teachers, attributing it to their Malay-medium education system with only English language classes to learn from.

“Now, with the teaching and learning of science and mathematics in English in place since 2003, there should have been a gradual improvement in the quality of English proficiency,” she said.

To improve the situation, she called on the government to reinforce the Dual Language Programme (DLP), introduced in 2016, in all schools.

“The idea behind DLP was to open up such classes in every school. But since then, only 10% of primary national and Tamil schools have opened at least one DLP class. The Ministry of Education should be held to task and must stop making excuses. The minister of education needs to immediately retract her mandatory non-DLP class in all schools,” she said.

The new directive mandates that schools wishing to adopt the DLP must have at least one class teaching science and mathematics in Bahasa Malaysia.

This has resulted in some schools complaining against the directive because they said none of the students want to learn the two subjects in Malay.

“Why is it that Sarawak and even elite fully residential schools are exempted from the mandatory non-DLP class? Retract the directive before more damage is done. Retract before more parents oppose the Education Minister,” she said, adding that school principals should not threaten and intimidate parents with police action when they are unable to contain their school parents.

“Parents have rights too,” she added.

Don’t sideline local teachers

The National Union of Teaching Profession supported the government’s wish to address the shortage of English teachers. However, its secretary-general, Fouzi Singon, said the use of foreign teachers must not deny the rights of local graduates with the same specialisation.

“Those who have completed their studies should be prioritised so that there is no unemployment among our graduates. Bringing in foreign experts should also not cause local teachers to be placed in the interior while those from Singapore are located in the city or suburbs,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Fouzi said that due to the current lack of teachers, several schools have asked teachers who are not skilled in the subject to take on English classes.

“But as teachers, they have to learn and try to meet the needs of their students at school,” he said.

Fouzi urged the government to be transparent and share actual data on the shortage of teachers so that the needs and shortages can be accommodated with precise planning.

“If this data is shared, training and study needs can be planned by the Teacher Education Institute and the universities. What is more practical is having a teacher exchange programme, teacher training, and intelligent sharing between the teachers of these two countries,” he said, urging the government to provide more details on the proposal.

Former minister Rafidah Aziz suggested that the government consider hiring retired English teachers instead of relying on Singapore to send teachers.

Rafidah said if Malaysia were to employ teachers from Singapore, they would need to be “paid in Singapore dollars, three-and-a-half times more” because of the currency exchange rate.

“Why not get retired teachers in Malaysia with English teaching experience and proficiency – there are many of them – and pay them Singapore rates?” she said in a statement. – June 14, 2024.