LETTER | The abolishment of the UPSR exams for reasons best known to the Education Ministry will see a further decline in the standard of English taking place.

As long as there are no exams, parents and pupils will take a lackadaisical attitude towards the subject.

This is evident in the standard of English among secondary school students over the years, as the language is not given much importance.

A teacher friend of mine has told me that the number of primary school pupils going for English tuition has dwindled drastically; simply because UPSR has been taken off the Education Ministry's exam calendar.

Only a handful of parents who value the importance of English still send their children to her for tuition.

In the long run, students’ command of English will deteriorate even further when they move over to pursue secondary schooling, as it is not given much prominence.

Get services of retired teachers

Only if UPSR is reinstated, will the standard of English of our students improve to a certain degree.

Regarding the Dual Language Programme (DLP), I don't think that it's a good idea to bring in Peace Corps to help out with the teaching.

Our retired teachers who need to continue working to support their families, or for the love of the profession, can do a better job.

There are many competent and able ones around. Furthermore, they are competent in English and Bahasa Malaysia, which is a bonus for all.

The scenario is not the same as in the 1960s and 1970s, when Peace Corps was recruited to teach in fully English medium schools. The standard of English for our students of all races at that time was very high.

As such, the students could go along with the spoken English of the Peace Corps, even if their slang and intonation were a challenge to them.

It could be a waste of taxpayers’ money to employ them, with no disrespect to them. If we have the human resources, we might as well make good of it.

On the contrary, only if there is an acute shortage of teachers to teach Science and Mathematics in English, should we give Peace Corps due consideration.

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