Pemandu's survey reveals 90% of respondents supported improving English proficiency

PETALING JAYA: English proficiency in the country has come under serious scrutiny in 2015 as lawmakers, educationists, parent groups, NGO's and even royalty have chimed in on the debate and have seen the dire need for improvement.
It was cast in further doubt when a report surfaced that some 1,000 medical graduates had stopped becoming doctors due to their poor command of the English language.
The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) Malacca chapter president Dr M Nachiappan was quoted as saying this did not augur well with the medical fraternity of the nation if English proficiency does not increase.
Many NGO's and parent groups have been pushing for Mathematics and Science to be taught in English in local schools.
An online survey conducted by the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) realised the need for English proficiency.
According to reports, 90% of the survey's 190,000 respondents supported improving English proficiency.
The seven-question survey was conducted from Oct 5 to 11.
Among the questions were:
• Would you consider some subjects in school to be taught in another language besides Bahasa Malaysia? and
• Do you think teaching English in other subjects would reduce the importance of Bahasa Malaysia as our national language?
It also asked about the application of the importance of the language in the workforce.
Although the survey was conducted anonymously, respondents were required to furnish details like their ethnicity, age group, where they lived, and household income.
Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia (Page) chairman Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim, who has been campaigning for the teaching of Mathematics and
Science in English for the past six years, said that Malaysia could fall behind internationally if the language was not improved.
Following this, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak announced a move to implement the Dual Language Programme (DLP) and Highly Immersive
Programme (HIP) in schools to improve English proficiency when he tabled the budget for 2016.
The DLP is a programme where schools will be given the option to teach Science and Mathematics in English or Bahasa Malaysia to Year One and Year Four pupils.
Najib announced that DLP would be offered in 300 pilot schools.
Meanwhile, HIP will see an increase in activities conducted during English language lessons but not an increase in teaching hours.