Decision on teaching Maths, Science in English by month's end (Updated)

A decision on whether to continue teaching Mathematics and Science in English is expected to be reached by the end of this month.
Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said the Cabinet would make a final decision after gathering all the feedback from the relevant agencies and other ministries.
"In fact, we are in the process and have already distributed drafts of the review for their perusal.
"After two and a half months since the UPSR results were released, I think it is the right time for the Cabinet to decide.
"The performance of last year's batch of UPSR pupils who had gone through six years of the policy will be used as the yardstick," he said when met after attending a closed-door meeting with state Umno leaders at the Mentri Besar's official residence here on Thursday.
Hishammuddin said the decision should be "rational, logical and acceptable" guided by facts and figures and not based on politics or emotions.
"It doesn't matter if the decision is made before or after the Umno elections as any change in policy will only be implemented next year.
"I will go to the ground personally to explain to the people this issue as they need to know the logistics, such as the number of pupils involved, teachers who were given training, and amount of equipment invested namely computer, laptop and LCD projectors since 2003," he said.
Hishammuddin said he agreed with the call to decide on the issue quickly but an "overnight decision" would affect the pupils and teachers involved.
He said he had also met Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to present them with the findings.
"If there are weaknesses in rural schools and teachers, I believe we can make some modifications to suit the needs and situation.
"I am also ready to meet with the group who had submitted a memorandum to the King and champions of language to explain the issue at length," he said, adding that his ministry officials had been engaging these groups since the policy was introduced.
On Umno, he said there appeared to be too much focus of money politics involving Umno politicians as though other parties had no such problems.
"To me, this is double standard as why is there so much emphasis on Umno? Let's be realistic as even US president Barack Obama spent billions of dollars in the elections.
"I hope MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) will be fair to all and start investigating other senior politicians from other parties as well," he said.
Meanwhile, in Putrajaya, Education director-general Datuk Alimuddin Mohd Dom said the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English (PPSMI) has not affected the achievements of students who sat for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) last year.
He said that in Additional Mathematics Paper 1, 89.1% of 178,751 opted to answer fully in English.
“I’m satisfied as I see more students choosing to answer papers such as Chemistry 2 and 3, which are mainly subjective, in English” he told a press conference when announcing the SPM and Sijil Tinggi Agama Malaysia (STAM) results at the ministry on Thursday.
He said 71.3% and 76.8% of students who sat for Chemistry Papers 2 and 3 respectively answered in English.
The other subjects which had the highest percentages of those answering fully in English included Additional Mathematics Paper 2 at 86.2%, Biology Paper 3 (81.5%) and Chemistry Paper 3 (76.8%).
“We are unable to make a comparison with 2007 as there is no data available on this. It is only this year that we got the students to mark whether they opted to answer in English or other languages,” said Alimuddin.
Students can opt to answer Science and Mathematics papers in English or Bahasa Malaysia, or in both languages.
Alimuddin said the students who sat for the SPM last year were the second batch to have studied Science and Mathematics subjects in English since the introduction of the policy in 2003.
Giving Chemistry as an example, he said the performance of students in urban and rural areas was not affected and there had been improvements since the start of the policy.
“In terms of those who achieved 1As and 2As, there was a 2.5% and 1.5% increase for those in urban and rural areas respectively since 2003,” he said.
However, Alimuddin said there was a 1.6% decrease in the number of students who obtained 1As and 2As for English.
The ministry, he added, would take steps to ensure improvements were made in terms of teacher proficiency.

Emmy Satina Binti Jusoh
(A123306)