M'sian policy change in teaching Maths & Science

[nirosha sen]

Sorry I don't get this, App. Transliterate is like what? Is it using the same words/terms found in English? Like 'photosynthesis' - the term is used in its original form but the explanation/meaning is in Tamil?

[Thalafanz]

Email circulated in my office yesterday.

Dear Parents,

PAGE Response to Minister's decision on PPSMI


GIVE PPSMI OPTION TO SELECTED SCHOOLS

Since the decision to switch to the mother tongue is to accommodate the rural students who have been made to appear to have ‘lost’ from the policy, the Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) wishes to request to the Minister of Education to consider the PPSMI option be made to schools that desire to retain the existing policy in the form of SK(PPSMI) and SMK(PPSMI). This fourth option has been glaringly ignored.

If the Minister is willing to accommodate vernacular schools, he should rightly do the same with schools that wish to maintain status quo who have benefited from the policy and are confident of the ‘intended objective’ being met.

PAGE will be formulating a plan of action for parents that desire their schools to have the PPSMI option. In the meantime, we request that parents nationwide including Sarawak and Sabah:

1 Indicate to us the name/s of your school/s that may want to maintain PPSMI; or

2 Ask their PIBGs to liaise with us through pagemalaysia@gmail.com .

Please help by forwarding this message to as many parents as possible. We have 9,000 schools to reach!

Thank you.

For Our Children
Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim
Chair
PAGE

[nirosha sen]

Thanks Tala! I've already written my 1st mail to her. We need to help her out, don't you think?

My daughter's in Yr 5 and I worry for her....

[Thalafanz]

Thanks Tala! I've already written my 1st mail to her. We need to help her out, don't you think?

My daughter's in Yr 5 and I worry for her....

Yes, we have to be together in this.

My brother is in Form 1. Really pity him.

[app_engine]

Sorry I don't get this, App. Transliterate is like what? Is it using the same words/terms found in English? Like 'photosynthesis' - the term is used in its original form but the explanation/meaning is in Tamil?

Transliteration e.g. :

In English : Computer
In Thamizh : கம்ப்யூட்டர்

For photosynthesis, they've got a translation much before the +2 came into picture. They taught about "ஒளிச்சேர்க்கை" in lower grade classes for decades. They had the term " பச்சையம்" for chlorophyll as well. On the other hand, when it came to chemistry in higher grades they'll freely use O2 / CO2 symbols and also use the terms oxygen / carbon di oxide transliterated. They won't struggle with உயிர் வாயு / பிராண வாயு / கரியமில வாயு in every case, though these were also used at times.

In cases like photosynthesis, we can definitely coin an equivalent term in most languages, as it's a natural phenomenon and there has got to be words that can be put together to get it.

It's those new inventions that may need transliteration in the short run (and may even find local terms in later days, like how in many places people use கணினி for computer).

[nirosha sen]

The situation has not improved. I heard that the non-malay ministers are in negotiation to keep the secondary schools from reverting but so far there's been no response from Najib, the PM!

[Thalafanz]

The situation has not improved. I heard that the non-malay ministers are in negotiation to keep the secondary schools from reverting but so far there's been no response from Najib, the PM!

எருமை மாட்டு மேல பெய்த மழை மாதிரி, ஒன்னும் நடக்கப் போவது இல்லை...

[NM]

have you guys in malaysia seen this? it was forwarded by a malysian friend of mine living in penenag:

Marina Mahathir says .... kampung politics to win election at the expense of our children education .....this is it!
> > Well, this is indeed a sad day. Sad because obviously
> > we don't have visionary leadership in this country, able
> > to see far into the future and determined to do what is best
> > for our children. Sad, because the leadership that we have
> > do not have the spine to stand up to minority interests.
> > Sad, because our children are sacrificed because the BN
> > wants to win one by-election (which they will probably STILL
> > lose anyway).
> > I have been crying for policies that are based on
> > empirical evidence. So now they throw in some studies they
> > have done on the implementation of the PPMSI and apparently
> > it shows that rural children are not doing as well as urban
> > children. But, when rural schools are not as well equipped
> > as urban ones, is that not to be expected? If you look at
> > performance overall, doesn't that hold true anyway? Why
> > should English be made the excuse for inequal distribution
> > of resources between rural and urban schools? Surely when
> > you see poor results from rural schools, what needs to be
> > done is to improve the teaching in those schools. Not
> > reverse an entire policy and bring urban kids down along
> > with everyone else.
> > What is this, policy of the lowest common
> > denominator?
> >
> > I think the Government is being very short-sighted.
> > Reversals of policy are never a good idea, especially when
> > you haven't really seen its final outcomes. If nothing
> > else, it shows inconsistency and lack of commitment to the
> > long run.
> >
> > The main thing is this: children learn better when they are
> > young. Even if now there is to be more emphasis on English,
> > rural kids will still be disadvantaged because they will
> > simply not have the resources to really learn the language..
> > My older daughter did her primary schooling in a national
> > school entirely in BM but it did not matter because at home
> > we speak English and there are any number of English books
> > for her to read. Now she is trilingual (along with French).
> > But kids out in the rural areas are simply not going to have
> > those resources at home. So if they are poorly taught at
> > school, then there is no hope for them ever to compete with
> > their
> > urban counterparts. That urban-rural gap will persist.
> >
> > And if they are going to hire 13,933 English teachers, why
> > not make them teach Maths and Science especially in rural
> > areas since proficiency is the language is not the issue
> > with them?
> >
> > An Indonesian friend of mine just got transfered to Belgium
> > along with her two young children. The older child aged 10
> > started taking French lessons just before she left and is
> > now fully immersed in a French-medium school in Brussels.
> > Her French is getting better by the day. That is the only
> > way to learn and she is immediately advantaged over my
> > younger daughter of the same age because she has one extra
> > language, besides Bahasa Indonesia and English.
> >
> > Speaking English is necessary in today's world because
> > it is the global language. Everywhere around the world,
> > people are learning English because that is the only way
> > they can take their place in the world, and communicate who
> > they are. Would we even
> > know what the Japanese are developing every day if someone
> > didn't translate their inventions into English and we
> > could read about them? How would we know what are the latest
> > developments in medicine if we didn't understand
> > English? Would we always have to rely on someone else to
> > translate for us?
> >
> > I'm not saying that our own languages are not
> > important. Of course they are. But can they compete with
> > English in the world today? Unless we commit to translating
> > every bit of knowledge there is into our languages, then we
> > are cutting ourselves off from knowledge. To what end?
> >
> > Or perhaps, we should just admit one thing. We don't
> > really want to compete with anyone else in the world. We
> > just want to live in our little kampungs and speak to our
> > neighbours who have to be exactly like us, and be content
> > with that. We don't want to know what's going on in
> > the world and if we need any new technology, well, we'll
> > just take whatever someone else tells us
> > is good for us. Oh, and we won't even go to any
> > international meetings of, say, Muslim scholars, because
> > even those meetings are held in English.
> >
> > I want to know one thing: if someone suggested that we
> > learn Maths and Science in Arabic, would everyone be falling
> > all over themselves to change the policy again?

[Thalafanz]

have you guys in malaysia seen this? it was forwarded by a malysian friend of mine living in penenag:

Apa lah Kak. Suday lupa ejaan untuk Penang kah???

[app_engine]

I don't know about the politics behind teaching at schools in the local language in Malaysia. It's not unusual for politicians to get into some tricks such as raising racial, lingusitic and such passions and convert them into advantage for themseleves.

However, I'm pretty convinced - not only based on my own experience and that of many who grew up with me- but also based on the post-WWII resurgence of countries like Japan / Germany that English need not be the "medium of instruction" at schools.

Or the emerging of China / India as economic powerhouses recently where the primary medium of instruction in the pre-college levels is NOT English.

Sure, people should learn it as a second language and it will come handy as a communication tool in the global workspace (and, yes, definitely as a medium for higher studies). However, to thrust that as the communicating medium for children with a different mother / father tongue is a punishment IMSO.