Revert back to our National Language The exposure by the National Malaysian Muslim Students Association (PKPIM) on Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS 2007) by International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) seems lost and ignored by many since February 5 Coup D'etat in Perak.
The full report reveals facts which are not really shocking but the impact on students' future are beyond our imagination. The introduction of English as a medium of instruction for both Mathematics and Science years ago have systematically accelerated the decline in students' performance in both Science and Mathematics as compared to nations which use their native languages to teach both subjects.
According to the report as quoted here, Malaysia suffers significant decline from 1oth position in TIMSS 2003 to an embarrassing 20th though participating nations increased from 46 in 2003 to 49 in 2007. An increase of 3 participating nations certainly does not commensurate with being in 20th position from 10th just over 4 years from 2003 till 2007. Among the countries that managed to overtake Malaysia in TIMSS 2007 are Serbia, Italy, Malta and Czech Republic with the latter two being newcomers.
The question that some of those countries are developed nations like Britain and the United States does not arise and totally irrelevant as the performance of the participating students are not influenced by their nations status either a developed or developing country like ours but rather it is due to the medium of instruction used. Whereas in those countries they use their native or mother tongue in teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics unlike us who prefer to use English based on mistaken belief that English needs to be the medium since majority of references for both subjects are in English locally and internationally.
The report further adds that our overall score for Mathematics have since decline to 474 from previous 503 whereby the overall international score is 500. Meanwhile, in terms of Science, Malaysia also suffers quite significant decline from 20th position to 21st position in the recent census.Our overall score for Science has seen a marked decline from 510 previously to 471 in the latest census.
The participants for the census are 150 form 2 students around the country who are learning both subjects in English (PPSMI). It may necessary to state here that TIMSS is an internationally recognised census and therefore the Education Ministry in particular and the government in general cannot just ignore the results on whatever basis just like what happened to the THES report not long ago.
Taking such stand will not help the standard of education instead it will further decline and erode our already ailing education system. Denial syndrome should immediately be replaced by a more transparent and vigorous veal to improve our current state. If the report is only for internal use than by right the People have the privilege to share them since they are also stake holders in our education system being part of the society and most importantly being parents and guardians of those who are learning Science and Mathematics in English.
It is indeed surprising to see the report's finding when the ministry has been reporting improvement in students' achievement in both subjects since its 'reinvention' years ago. Perhaps what the ministry needs to do is to engage neutral and impartial outside auditor to look into the whole process particularly the creation of questions up until the scripts are marked. If there is nothing wrong with the whole process than the ministry should warm up to this suggestion to appoint impartial auditor.
The government since time immemorial has been calling for the people to unite and to discard their political diversities but until today the government remains hidden behind a thick wall of bureaucracy and the most unfortunate of all is that in many cases such as the decline of our universities standard, rather than warming up to criticism they immediately tend to deny everything by offering too many excuses.
"It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities."
- Sir Josiah Stamp
- Sir Josiah Stamp
1 comment:
I agree that students in Malaysia ( aged 9 - 17 years old) are not doing well in mathematics and science. English was blamed to be the cuase of decline in standards for maths and science performance in Form 2 students across the country.
But we must remember that many students did not do well in these two subjects when BM was the medium of instruction either in mid 80's to the year 2002. So what can we conclude from this?
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