Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia decided Wednesday to revert back to using the Malay language to teach maths and science in schools, after an attempt to use English failed to raise knowledge of the language. The government decided in 2003 to teach the two subjects in English after criticisms of the poor standard of English among local graduates.
However, after six years, the experiment led to no significant improvement, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin told Parliament Wednesday.
He said one main reason for the failure of the old system was the lack of proficiency among teachers, many of whom struggled to hold a conversation in English much less teach in the language.
"Only 19.2 per cent of secondary teachers and 9.96 per cent of primary teachers were sufficiently proficient in English," Muhyiddin was quoted as saying by the Star online news portal.
Prior to the 2003 decision, English was taught as a separate subject while every other subject in school was conducted in Malay.
Muhyiddin said that by reverting back to the old system the government was not sidelining the importance of English.
He said measures such as increasing English training for teachers and introducing the study of English literature would help to raise the standards.
The issue sparked a great debate among educators and politicians alike, with some arguing that reverting back to Malay would further lower the level of English among local graduates.
