English From Pre-School: Right Decision

When it comes to learning, especially acquiring a language that is not your mother tongue, you’ve got to start early, and preschool’s the best.

Here’s Tuesday’s announcement on efforts to strengthen the command of the English language, from Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin which is front page headline news on The Sun newspaper today:

Preschools To Be Part Of National Education System – DPM

PUTRAJAYA, July 21 (Bernama) -- Preschools will be absorbed into the national education system as part of the efforts to strengthen the command of the English language at the early stage of schooling, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said.

He said trained English language teachers would be sent to the schools to help improve the learning and teaching of the language.

Muhyiddin, who is education minister, said the government had agreed in principle to implement the policy but had not set any time frame to do so.

He added that the move would be implemented to correspond with the proposal to make English a compulsory pass subject in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination.

"If we can set aside a suitable period for the subject, and let trained teachers handle the class, in three years these preschoolers will be able grasp basic English," he said.

By doing so, he said, preschoolers need not wait until they were in primary school to have a good grasp of basic English.

"If the six-year period (in primary school) is not enough, they have five more years to learn the language (in secondary school).

"So, it is unlikely that they will fail their SPM English language examination," he said at a gathering with educators at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC) here Tuesday.

He said that the government was aware of the concerns expressed by certain quarters over the proposal to make English a compulsory pass subject as many students, especially those in the rural areas, might not be able to achieve the pass mark.

Citing the results of last year's SPM examination as an example, Muhyiddin said, only 26.9 per cent of rural students managed to register a pass in the subject.

The government, however, would not take the "levelling down" approach in implementing the proposal, he said.

"We should instead be brave enough to adopt the 'levelling up' approach by striving to improve the performance among students.

"In the context of the English language, the suggestion to make English a 'must pass' subject is a levelling up approach to improve the command of the language among students so that they can become competitive."

Muhyiddin said the proposal could be implemented soon but the efforts to enhance the command of the English language among students should start now.

-- BERNAMA