So, a royalty is now speaking up for English. Is this a case of better late than never?
At the International Conference on Education for All Raja Dr Nazrin Shah today stressed the importance of the English language. He believes that English is of paramount importance in the twenty first century workplace and said “It is the lingua franca of world commerce and world finance and those who are proficient in the language will enjoy many advantages in global work place.” He added that many employers are using English proficiency as one of the defining factors in selecting workers.As such, he he advocated that every teaching and learning method be harnessed to enhance the English proficiency of every student.
He then lamented that teachers should be better trained and standardised test be introduced at all school level to determine the English proficiency of their students.
“Teachers are the most important determinants of the quality of the education system. The quality of the education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers and yet most education systems do not have the best.
But the best education systems do. In Finland, all new teachers must have a masters degree.
“South Korea recruits primary school teachers from the top 45 per cent of graduates, Singapore and Hong Kong from the top 30 per cent. In these countries, teaching is a high status profession,” he explained.
Raja Nazrin was explaining how English proficiency is one of the four key aspect of the education system which needs to be given special attention if Malaysia is to meet the demands of a knowledge and innovation economy.
It is rather sad that Raja Nazrin’s comment came after the government had already decided in July 2009 to end the policy of teaching mathematics and science in English in both primary and secondary schools effective from 2012. The two subjects will be taught in Bahasa Melayu in national schools and in Tamil or Chinese for vernacular schools.
He also commented that the Malaysian education system needs to reduce the amount of content being taught in classes because this has led to the neglect of the competency skills needed for the 21st century.
“The curriculum is full of teachers and university instructors disseminating information to students who are passive recipients.
“Often times, schools teachers and university instructors lament the fact that they are given insufficient time to complete the syllabus. Educationists fear that reducing the content will deprive learners, not realising that in this case less will, in fact, be more,” he said.
He added that students will benefit more if they learn inquire and gather information by themselves especially with the advancement of the information technology.
Raja Nazrin told the audience that Malaysia must shift from its examination oriented education system because this has led to the neglect of many of skills and competencies needed for a knowledge and innovation economy.
He said that the examination-oriented system has led schools focusing on high achievers at the exclusion of underachievers who unfortunately comes from poorer socio-economic background.
“While the numbers As scored by learners is important, it is equally important to ensure that all students master the knowledge and skills required for them to function effectively and efficiently in the workplace of the 21st century,” he said.
Raja Nazrin added that the current teacher-centered strategies will have to give way to more learner-centred strategies.
Only through this can the required skills be developed for the 21st century, he stressed.
He explained that wealth of a knowledge and innovation economy can only be derived from the exploitation of the intangible assets of its people such as experience, skills and knowledge.
“It could only be achieved if the education system is able to turn out students who are well introduced to the knowledge, skills and attitude to work in a knowledge and innovation based economy,” he said.
Are we too late to change the mind of PM Najib?
