Schools must raise proficiency in English and IT, says Najib

The Straits Times, April 18, 2007

KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA'S deputy leader has called for the school curriculum to be revamped to make students proficient in English, information technology and analytical thinking, newspapers reported yesterday.

English 'is the master ingredient in most things in today's world, the primary language, be it for diplomacy, business or education', Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Monday at the opening of an education conference.

'Our schools must not ignore this reality.'

The New Straits Times newspaper quoted him as saying that while Bahasa Malaysia is important, Malaysian students must attain a 'respectable level of fluency in English so as to ensure that they are no less qualified when competing globally'.

The medium of instruction in government schools was changed from English to Bahasa Malaysia in 1980.

After years of producing students who could barely speak English, Malaysia changed the medium of instruction for science and maths to English in May 2002.

But students complained that their teachers were not proficient in English and fell back on Bahasa Malaysia while teaching.

Datuk Seri Najib also called on a pioneer group of so-called 'smart schools' to focus on teaching students how to make the best use of IT to solve problems.

'We cannot simply purchase equipment and build computer laboratories in schools and leave it at that,' the New Straits Times quoted Datuk Seri Najib as saying.

'At the end of the day, if the curriculum is still examination-focused and geared towards memorisation and reproduction of facts and figures, our objectives will not be met.'

ASSOCIATED PRESS