Acting Education Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad should have consulted the cabinet or the Pakatan Harapan presidential council first before announcing an important policy such as teaching Science and Mathematics in English.

This is especially since he is only an acting minister for the education portfolio, said Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Karim (photo).

“Is it reasonable for an acting education minister to announce the important policy... before first discussing it with the federal government cabinet?

“Is it reasonable for a prime minister, who has agreed to step down from the position, as promised before the 14th general election, and who is now only an acting education minister, to announce a policy which has been rejected by a majority of the rakyat?

“Won’t this announcement from Mahathir on PPSMI (Teaching and Learning of Science and Mathematics in English) make things difficult for Harapan in facing the rakyat in the 15th general election?” Hassan said in a statement.

This came after Mahathir, when speaking at a special meeting with the ministry on Thursday, pushed for the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English. He said the mastery of English was a vital element of education.

This was revealed in a video of his remarks at the meeting that was uploaded on his official Youtube account.

However, it does not mention how the new teaching method would be implemented, if it was already decided upon, or if this move could be constituted as the return of the PPSMI programme.

PPSMI unpopular

Meanwhile, Hassan further said he saw this as a move by Mahathir, who is also the prime minister, to go behind the policy responsibility of the other ministers and Harapan leadership.

The PKR lawmaker pointed out that many ministers had previously gone down to the streets in 2008 to protest the PPSMI until it was abolished in 2010. PKR, he reminded, has always been against the PPSMI.

The current Bersatu chairperson introduced the PPSMI programme in 2003 during his previous tenure as prime minister, under the BN administration.

The policy was unpopular, even among then-opposition parties such as PKR.

Deputy Education Minister Teo Nie Ching yesterday reportedly said the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English was only mentioned in Mahathir's remarks, but no implementation plan was discussed during last Thursday’s meeting.

She said the ministry still needed to conduct more research before this can be implemented.

A 'step backwards'

Selangor PKR Youth chief Mohd Najwan Halimi (below) also described this move from Mahathir as a “step backwards”, as the PPSMI had been rejected by many quarters.

He said all major policies should go through the cabinet first before it is announced to the public, as this will ensure a more organised administration and communication from the government.

“The cabinet is responsible for urging for the main issues to be reformed and not to return to the old policies of the former government.

“The resistance against PPSMI, which was witnessed in the era of the BN government, is an unnecessary burden to the Harapan government in the era of New Malaysia,” Najwan said in a statement today.

In a separate statement, Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (Abim) also urged for any reintroduction of PPSMI to be discussed in the Harapan presidential council first as it is such an important policy.

It also claimed PPSMI has failed to improve the mastery of the English language among students.

Instead, it has turned students away from science-related industries, Abim said.

The Harapan government, Abim added, should be paying more attention to implementing a thorough reform which was promised in the manifesto instead of bringing back a policy from the previous government which has been proven to fail.

Rural students struggle

Lastly, Ikatan Guru-Guru Muslim Malaysia (iGuru) said they were also disappointed in the move as they feel teaching Science and Mathematics in the mother tongue is more effective than in English.

They are also worried this would alienate the rural students and cause them to be less interested in the science and mathematics subjects.

“We support the efforts to strengthen mastery of the English language in schools as preparation to face the world market but there is a misunderstanding that unemployment is caused by a lack of mastery of the English language,” it said.

iGuru said the failure of the PPSMI was proven in international examinations where Malaysian students performed significantly worse during the implementation of PPSMI than before or after.

“iGuru urges Mahathir to take into account the failure of PPSMI and find the best method to ensure students can master the English language with a more efficient and productive approach.

“Making science and mathematics as the target is not the best solution,” it said.

The PPSMI was scrapped in 2011. The education minister then, Muhyiddin Yassin, said the programme had resulted in less rural students passing Science and Mathematics.

This was disputed by some, who said the results had improved under PPSMI.

Mahathir assumed the role of acting education minister after the post was vacated by Simpang Renggam MP Maszlee Malik on Jan 2 at the behest of the prime minister himself.

The premier assured that he would only hold the role temporarily and a new minister will be announced.