THE Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia (PAGE) wishes to applaud the ground-breaking ceremony of Epsom College and its endorsement by the education minister and the mentri besar of Negri Sembilan in its endeavour to bring quality education to the elite into the country.

As you may know, PAGE has been in the forefront of championing the option of teaching and learning of science and maths in English (PPSMI) in national schools that desire it.

When the decision to revert the teaching of these two subjects to the mother tongue was made a year ago, there were several scenarios that we had foreseen, and now we see coming to fruition, to the detriment of the rakyat, nation-building and integration.

First, there has been a marked demand for international schools as naturally these schools offer science and maths in English, its lingua franca. International schools will cater for the wealthy Malaysians whose children will reap the best jobs in the country if they stay or leave the country and worsen the brain drain.

Second, the similarly, manifold rise in number and demand for home schools two months after the decision to revert to the mother tongue was announced, saw an explosion in the demand for home schools, largely church-run, further dividing the already fragile state of urban education.

Third, the creation of a more pronounced socio-economic gap of “haves” and “have-nots” will further erode and divide the already secular type of schools within the education system. The perceived creation of an unhealthy social status of schools led by international schools, followed by private schools, then home schools, Chinese schools and lastly, national and Tamil schools as schools of last choice will eventually influence the end result, the prospective employer’s pick of the day.

We appeal to the prime minister to allow the PPSMI option to ensure that students of national schools, the “have-nots” are provided a level playing field, which is the responsibility of all good leaders, so that they are able to compete fairly with the “haves” and are not being left even further behind.

A good and fair national education is the responsibility of the society of any nation.

Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim
Chairperson
PAGE

Source: The Sun – August 5, 2010