MUAR, 11 June 2009: Johor Umno has supported a proposal to make English a compulsory passing subject to obtain a full certificate in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination.
Chairperson Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman said, however, that the English syllabus has to be revamped, and teachers equipped with adequate skills.
“With a structured syllabus, students, including those from rural areas, will be able to have good command of English. This is because they have spent 11 years before sitting for SPM.
“However, students from rural areas may not be able to have good command of English if the syllabus is not revamped,” he said here today.
The Johor menteri besar said a revamp of the syllabus is important as students are being taught English as a communication language with little focus on grammar and vocabulary. — Bernama
D Lim says
English … yeah the language issue has come back to haunt us time and again. In the first place, who implemented the policy that ‘English is not important’ and downgraded its importance (being the highest used language in the world) in the school curriculum? Time and again, policies were made without thinking through and based on emotions. At the end of the day, it’s the students who suffer. Most of all, students from non-English speaking backgrounds/lower socio-economic backgrounds. If we had not lacked the foresight and politicised the language, we wouldn’t have come to this situation. It was predicted! Now we have to mop up the mess the politicians created!
chinaman says
Muhyiddin is from Johor. If Umno Johor don’t support, who else will? I wonder what will be the pass rate if it is implemented now. Take five years from now. Go back to the basics. Employ those experienced retired English teachers to teach.