KAJANG: The government was advised not to be hasty in abolishing the arts and science streams in form four starting next year.
The National Council of Professors (NCP) president Prof. Datuk Dr. Raduan Che Rose said he feared the move would have implications for courses at the university level in addition to being in conflict with the Ministry of Education’s move to promote science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects.
“Currently, we (the university) are hard-pressed to get students from the science stream. Science consists of physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics and additional mathematics.”
“If everything is gone and mixed up, how are we to put students into science-based courses? They should not dilute the core science subjects. We will call on universities and professors to get their feedback,“ he said in a media session after a round table discussion with 50 scholars at the NCP headquarters, here yesterday.
Early last week, the media reported that starting from next year fourth form students would no longer be divided or differentiated following the arts or science streams but would be allowed to pick subjects depending on their interests.
The deputy Minister of Education, Teo Nie Ching was reported to have said, the difference between the two streams would no longer exist in line with the implementation of the Standard Based Curriculum for Secondary School (SBCSC).
Meanwhile, commenting on the meeting, Raduan said NCP viewed seriously the issues relating to Social Contracts that were raised and politicised by certain quarters.
He said, the results of the meeting would be documented as a proposal paper and would be submitted to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir as soon as possible.
“Many do not understand the context of this Social Contract until it was politicised and cause confusion to society. All of the suggestions and proposals of this meeting will be submitted to the Prime Minister.
“Also discussed, is the issue of the speech of Prof Datuk Zainal Kling which allegedly contained seditious elements, but NCP believes his remarks do not contain elements to instigate racial tensions as claimed by some parties,“ he said. — Bernama
