English: Its Importance by Olympia College

Olympia college hits the nail on its head when it says that English is now the international business language as well for science and technology. so why is the Government going against the current? Is it a deja vu for nationalism once more? Have the current generation of poor English speakers sufficient testimony that we were wrong before.Must we be foolish to be the fools that thread in our former footsteps once again because of blind pride?

Let us hear what the College has to say.

"The numbers of students in For many students in the East Coast, their lack of proficiency in English has made it difficult for them to study in the language and secure jobs at multi-national companies after they have graduated.

Without a good grasp of the language, the students lack confidence and cannot communicate or present their ideas in English -- which is now the lingua franca of international business, science and technology.

To help students improve their English, the Olympia College here has ensured that all its programmes are conducted in the language from day one.

Its principal, N. Sundar, said lecturers at Olympia College would personally help each student so that they could master the language in the first three months.

"With a small number of students in each classroom, the lecturers can pay more attention to each of them," he said.

He added that Olympia College graduates could converse and write well in English after completing their diploma courses in 30 months.

The college's academic manager Christine Gan said many private and public higher learning institutions preferred to conduct bilingual classes as they believed that such an approach could help students from rural areas including those from the East Coast.

However, based on her experience, Gan said such students were able to master English faster if they were exposed to it everyday.

"We had many students who could not speak English well when they first enrolled.

"They were scared to communicate, but with the help of our friendly lecturers, they slowly gained the confidence," she said.

At present, there are 35 college students taking the Diploma in Business Studies and Diploma in Information Technology courses while another 15 are pursuing degree courses and 20 in Master's programmes.

Gan said all the students had to undergo three months intensive English classes in addition to their core subjects.

"I don't want to study far from my family. I also believe this is the only college which gives priority to English," said the second child of three siblings who plans to major in accounting after completing the diploma in business studies at the college.

Policy makers in Putrajaya-are you reading this?