Is politics behind the difficulties of Malaysia’s education reform?

CRITICISM OVER POLICY SHIFTS

The seeming rollback of the DLP is not the first such change in policy on the language of instruction used in schools.

In 2003, the then PM, Mahathir Mohamad, introduced the use of English for teaching maths and science, amid concerns about Malaysians’ poor standard of English.

By 2012, the then education minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, abandoned the experiment owing to a shortage of teachers qualified to teach in English. There was also concern that the dominance of English would undermine pupils’ grasp of the national language.

This was reversed with the DLP. Out of around 10,000 national schools, a quarter — largely in Sarawak — have adopted the programme. “Sarawak knows the importance of the DLP,” said Noor Azimah.

But in the peninsula and Sabah, only 8.4 per cent of primary schools offered it last year. “And in most cases, only one class,” she added. “To me, that’s a fail on the part of the ministry.”