It's Not Time alone...

It's not the amount of time alone that will be the controlling factor. As such increasing time for English by 70% come 2012 was be inadequate. The more important thing is teaching methodology and the ancillary scaffolding structures that must be put into place to ensure practice and usage brings about language use fluency.

Currently, given the the present curriculum, English could only be increased by another 14% in terms of time.

It is definitely a big laugh to learn that English was taught with scant attention to grammar. Without the structural form, no wonder Manglish is allowed free reign to destroy English standards in Malaysia.

Again, as there was no English literature to foster reading and deeper understanding of the language,most students speak only rudimentary English and the lack of a good vocabulary bank is one of the biggest stumbling block in English learning.

Muhyiddin, who is Education Minister, said the increase in the number of hours would allow for the introduction of new elements in the teaching and learning of English such as English literature and more emphasis on grammar.

The Education Minister seems to be mouthing all kinds of worn-out strategies these days ranging from appointing more skilled teachers, review the types of textbooks used and the setting up of English laboratories.

He claims that English will henceforth be made into a main language. How so, begs the question?

As for the translation initiative by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka and the Malaysian National Institute of Translation, it is at best a flawed argument as translation itself is a big problem as we lack bilingual experts in science and mathematics.

To the minister, it seems the about turn on English as the medium of instruction is now written in stone and cannot be changed.

Where is your flexibility, Mr Minister?