MBMMBI: The Rationale of MBMMBI replacing PPSMI (MOE)

For those searching for MOE explaination of PPSMI abolishment and to be repaced by the new MBMMBI starting this year. Well. here are the MOE rationale behind MBMMBI to replace PPSMI :

•  The result of UPSR, PMR and SPM showed that the achievement in BM is higher than English irrespective of wheter the students were frmo urban or non urban area. The result showed that students would do better if taught in BM than English.
• The results of the UPSR in Science and Mathermatics in National Schools showed a deterioration in the achievement of the ABC grades for the first batch who went through the full PPSMI in Primary schools.
• The gap in achievement between schools in the urban and rural areas in the Science and Mathematics subjects had widened during the implementation of PPSMI..
• UNESCO studies showed that it would be easier for studetns to learn in their mother tongue at the early stage of education.
• Full details on MBMMBI .....click here

MBMMBI vs PPSMI : A response to MOE’s defence of abolishing PPSMI

The Education Ministry via  Encik Mohd Solihan Badri, Corporate Communications Unit, has posted its arguments in defence of its decision to abolish the policy of teaching and learning Science and Math in English (PPSMI) with the new policy Upholding the Malay Language, Strengthening the Command of English (MBMMBI), (Science & Mathematics: Plan will boost BM, English, NST October 11, 2010).

The Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia (PAGE) would like to correct a few misleading and incorrect statements by Encik Mohd Solihan.
In 2008, after the fourth ministerial roundtable discussion under the leadership of the previous Education Minister and the late Arwah Datuk Razali Ismail, and intellectual debates and expert consultation, the general agreement was that PPSMI was a good and beneficial policy and that it would be maintained.
However in 2009, our new Education Minister under pressure from the street demonstrators and without consulting the stakeholders, completely overturned the policy within just three months of taking office, just days prior to the Manik Urai by-elections.
It was clearly a political decision with very weak “intellectual” arguments which PAGE has extensively won over in previous debates and forums.
In May 2010, in reference to a suit by some students against our government to declare PPSMI unconstitutional, our High Court ruled that PPSMI is NOT unconstitutional and it is also in line with the “Akta Bahasa Kebangsaan 1963/1967”.
The spirit of our Education Act 1996 also mandates that our government takes into account the general principle that students should be educated (in the language) according to the wishes of their parents.
No doubt, the new MBMMBI policy will increase the teaching of the English language from 16 per cent to 21 per cent of teaching time. However, with the removal of Science and Math in English, the overall exposure to the English language will drop from 41 per cent to 21 per cent.  This is a significant drop by half. Any linguist will tell us that it will be a total disaster for our students’ as far as comprehension of the English language is concerned.
Scientific English will also be totally wiped out to be replaced with Scientific Malay which has no commercial or intellectual value in the current competitive knowledge-based economy. We may stand tall against Indonesia which currently is the biggest exporter of maids and cheap labour to our country.
Other than that, God help us.
Comparing English vs Bahasa Melayu, the percentage of knowledge or articles available in the two languages are approximately 99.9 per cent vs 0.1 per cent respectively. We can find a significant number of intelligent and knowledgeable articles in English but the ones in Bahasa Melayu or Bahasa Indonesia are mainly from blogs with very little intellectual content.
Muslims believe that the first injunction brought by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is “Iqrak” or “Read” to gain knowledge. With the new MBMMBI policy our children’s comprehension of the English language will be extremely limited and their access to the knowledge of the world will also be severely handicapped. This is totally in violation of the principles of the Islamic religion.
PAGE calls upon our leaders to do what is right. Reinstate PPSMI in schools that want it. Ego and saving face of politicians is a small price to pay for the future of our children and our beloved country.

Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim
* The writer is the chairman of Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia (PAGE)

Well, what's your thought my friends? Feel free to comment here.

MBMMBI : Obvious flaws in new policy

I REFER to “Longer hours for English in schools next year” (Sunday Star, March 21). In place of the Teaching of Science and Maths in English, better known as PPSMI, our Education Ministry has introduced the policy “Upholding the Malay Language and Strengthening the Command of English” which abbreviates into the tongue-twisting Malay acronym “MBMMBI”.
There are obvious flaws in this new policy which the ministry should address.
Firstly, every linguist will tell us that the way to mastering any language is through exposure, exposure and exposure.
PPSMI exposes students to English and allows them to practise English by application. Eliminating PPSMI and introducing MBMMBI will reduce English exposure time from 41% to 21% of total learning time. There is no other exposure time to English in national and vernacular schools.
Thus, MBMMBI will further weaken the command of English of our future generation. Evidence of this is obvious as since Bahasa Melayu replaced English as the medium of instruction in schools in the early 1970s, the standard of English of Malaysian students has dropped drastically to the extent that even local university graduates are rendered unemployable due to their poor English communication skills.
Secondly, MBMMBI will totally eliminate scientific English and replace it with “scientific” Malay words, the majority of which are actually nothing more than “Malay-fied” English terms such as oksida, fotosintesis, silinder, etc.
Many Malaysian students are currently experiencing difficulties coping with tertiary studies where English is the medium of instruction.
Thirdly, MBMMBI intends to introduce mathematical and scientific terms in English lessons to make up for the loss of PPSMI. But this will only serve to pressure and burden our teachers.
Fourthly, under MBMMBI, Bahasa Melayu would be the only main language spoken and mastered and English would be relegated to a distant second place.
As it is, Bahasa Melayu nationalists have labelled English as a colonial language and criticised those who want to learn in English as traitors. Unfortunately, there will be some hapless rural and urban folk who will be influenced and misguided by these “patriots”.
Incidentally, the Hong Kong government has just announced that half of its secondary schools will switch the medium of instruction from Mandarin to English, including specifically, the teaching and learning of science.
We parents must insist on a resolution to maintain PPSMI in our children’s schools at the next AGM of our Parent-Teachers Association.
DATIN NOOR AZIMAH ABDUL RAHIM,
Chairperson,
Parent Action Group for Education.

TheStar, Monday March 22, 2010