MALAYSIA should consider reviving English-medium schools to raise the competitiveness of the country’s workforce in the face of the Industrial Revolution 4.0, says Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Abdul Rahman Dahlan.

“If we can have Chinese schools, Tamil schools, religious schools, international schools and private schools, what’s wrong with having English schools?” he said on the sidelines of the the Future of Work, Workplace, Workforce Conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

“We cannot run from the reality that English is an international language that would give our youth a competitive edge.

“Malaysia used to be regarded as a country with high English literacy and now, many say our graduates have not mastered English.

“But I also understand that for us to achieve this, all concerned parties have to speak up, not just politicians. Because when we talk about English schools, it could become politicised.”

More than half of all jobs in Malaysia, or 54%, are at high risk of being displaced due to technological disruptions in the next few decades, based on the findings of a Khazanah Research Institute paper, Rahman said in his keynote speech.

“More than 70% of all semi-skilled and 80% of all low-skilled jobs across all economic sectors are at risk,” he said, adding that some 90% of semi-skilled jobs are held by Malaysians.

Rahman said the subject of the medium of instruction in schools could be easily politicised and that parents and civil society organisations needed to speak up if they want English-medium schools to be revived.

Malaysia’s scores in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), although improved year-on-year, have been below the global average for Mathematics, Reading and Science in recent years.

English-medium schools in Malaysia were phased out at all levels after the 1969 post-general election racial riots. The switch was completed at the end of 1982.

The government introduced the teaching of Mathematics and Science in English in 2003 in a bid to raise English competency among pupils but the policy was reversed in 2012 due to protests.

A proposal in 2013 mooted by then education minister Muhyiddin Yassin to make English a compulsory pass subject in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia by 2016 did not materialise as he was sacked in July 2015.

Industrial Revolution 4.0, or Industry 4.0, is a term originally coined by Germany in its attempt to incorporate more cloud and cognitive computing, among other advance Web technologies, in “smart factories” to maintain the country’s global lead in the manufacturing sector.

Manufacturing is the second largest sector in Malaysia at 22.8% of gross domestic product, after the services sector (54.2% of GDP) as of the first quarter of this year, followed by mining (9%), agriculture (7.8%) and construction (4.8%). – November 20, 2017.