The serious lack of English proficiency among students was a key issue raised at the Transformasi Nasional 50 (TN50) dialogue held in Subang Jaya last night.

One participant, My Readers literacy programme founder Charis Ding, said there are still secondary school students who are illiterate in the English language.

As an example, she cited a 13-year-old student who could only read eight words out of a 77-word passage set for a Standard One student - highlighting a literacy gap of six years...