Nurul Izzah and English

Visnu Natesan

Nurul Izzah Anwar made a statement criticizing Dr. Mahathir that he wasted RM 8 billion through the Teaching of Mathematics and Science in English (PPSMI) program. Nurul further added that a study conducted by UNESCO stated that technical subjects should be taught in students’ mother tongue. However, the writer strongly disagrees with Nurul’s view on the subject.

The Oxford English Dictionary lists over 250,000 different words not including technical and scientific terms. On a similar note, our Kamus Dewan Fourth Edition has over 49,000 words/entries. The Malay language has many loaned words from Sanskrit, Persian, Tamil, Telugu, Greek, Latin, Portuguese, Dutch and Chinese dialects.

Is abolishing PPSMI not the answer?

Imran Mustafa

(Full Downloadable  Education Blueprint link inside) We read with interest the article entitled “Abolishing PPSMI is not the answer” by Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim (September 10, 2012), in particular, the fallacious arguments made in the name of science policy.Before going into the details of the argument, it is best to remind oneself what the term “PPSMI” means “Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik dalam bahasa Inggeris” or “The Teaching and Learning of Science and Mathematics in English”. What this obviously implies is that everyone, regardless of background or first language, is, have been and will always be obligated to learn the two subjects, science and mathematics, in English.