Bring back English policy to assist transformation, says PAGE
PAGE chairman Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim pointed out today that the decision to abolish the policy in July 2009 was done before any economic blueprint was in place.
“The ultra-nationalists were impatient and tiring for a decision on the policy, holding the government to ransom for Malay votes,” said Noor Azimah (picture) in a statement to the media. “As a result, Malaysia may soon live to regret the implications of such a decision unless measures are taken to dampen its negative effect of future global uncompetitiveness.”
She noted that the private sector was to drive the ETP and will require a skilled workforce but claimed most local graduates lack English proficiency and knowledge in science, technology and commerce.
“The domestic investment involved is tremendous and it is vital that the workforce, stemming from the quality of the education system in existence, must have the appropriate job skill sets for the jobs that are and will be available,” she said.
PAGE, which was established in May, has been among the most vocal groups on the policy of the teaching of science and mathematics in English, known as PPSMI in Malay. The decision to abolish PPSMI last year was widely seen as a political move to appease language nationalists and many have expressed concern that it would cause the standard of English in the country to further deteriorate and hurt the country’s competitiveness.
The ETP is one of the Najib administration’s initiatives aimed at roughly tripling gross national income in the next 10 years and is based on a slew of private sector-driven projects that would require private funds to the tune of US$266 billion (RM822 billion).
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