The number of pupils who answered in English for the Science and Mathematics papers in the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) 2008 exam has increased tremendously. And the overall UPSR results this year are better as compared to five years ago, with an increase in the number of students scoring all A's.
This proved that teaching English in Science and Mathematics subjects show better result. It also proved that the Malaysian students (including the Malay students) are receptive to English as a teaching medium for Science and Mathematics.
The thorny issue that cropped since the policy of introducing English for Science and Maths subjects in 2003, is that some quarters want to revert the teaching of Science and Maths to Bahasa Malaysia. Those quarters are worry that their mother tongue BM will be gone from the education system. Those quarters are mostly Malay teachers who are in self-denial, who are so engrossed with BM that they are not willing to change nor do they even want to try it.
When English was reintroduced as a teaching medium for the two subjects, a lot of Malay teachers (especially those from West Malaysia) want to boycott the programme. Most of them are reluctant to improve their English teaching skills. Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein must tackle this issue. All teachers who are weak in English must be given proper training but if they refuse it, by all means, sacks those uncooperative teachers.
The bottom point here is that, those Malay teachers (by denying English) and opting not to improve their own English is in fact going against the government policy. The government has given a mandate to improve our education system and also spend billion of Rinngit to reintroduce English in our education system so that our future Malaysian (including the Malays) can compete globally. Yet, those jerks are not supportive of our national objectives. Prof Emeritus Tan Sri Ismail Hussein is one of them.
Related posts:
* Malaysia Education System Going Backward - Part 2
* Malaysia Education System Going Backward- Part 1 (people who oppose Tan Sri Ismail)
* Mastering second language does not make Malay less Malay
From TheStar
Many more opt for English
By KAREN CHAPMAN and IAN MCINTYRE
PUTRAJAYA: The number of pupils who answered in English for the Science and Mathematics papers in the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) exam has increased tremendously.
Compared to last year, the figures this time was up by more 200 times (Mathematics) and 100 times (Science).
Pupils had the option of answering the subjects entirely in English, Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese or Tamil or a combination of all three.
Education director-general Datuk Alimuddin Mohd Dom said 159,234 pupils (31%) answered the Science paper in English while for Mathematics, the figure was 238,153 (46%).
Last year, the number of pupils who answered the Science and Mathematics papers in English were 1,324 and 1,075 respectively.
“The 518,616 pupils who sat for the UPSR this year are the first group to have started studying the two subjects in English since the policy was introduced in 2003,” he told a press conference yesterday after providing an analysis of the UPSR 2008 results at the ministry.
Alimuddin said this year’s UPSR results would be discussed by stakeholders before a final decision was made on whether to continue teaching Science and Mathematics in English or revert to Bahasa Malaysia.
Ministry officers would also compile data on the issue, including newspaper articles and memoranda received by Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein who would then bring it to Cabinet.
Alimuddin said the ministry had introduced two new indicators to gauge pupils’ performance in the UPSR, which were the Candidates’ Overall Achievement reflecting the pupils’ achievement in school, and the Subject Performance score which is based on the percentage of pupils’ grades in subjects scored.
In Kota Baru, Hishammuddin said this year’s UPSR would not be the benchmark to decide whether the ministry would continue teaching Science and Maths in English.
He said the results were part of a bigger study being conducted before a consensus could be reached.
He also said that he wanted the decision to be one that was not politicised or criticised by race-dominated educationists as all stakeholders were invited to present their views.
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From Bernama
2008 UPSR Results Better Than Five Years Ago - Ed D/G
PUTRAJAYA, Nov 13 (Bernama) -- The overall Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) results this year are better as compared to five years ago, with an increase in the number of students scoring all A's.
Education director-general Datuk Alimuddin Mohd Dom said, of the 518,616 UPSR candidates, 46,641 or 9.2 per cent scored all A's, as compared to only 7.8 per cent five years ago.
He said there was also an obvious improvement in the number of candidates answering Science and Mathematics questions in English, whereby 159,234 students answered their Science paper in English as compared to 1,324, the previous year.
Alimuddin was speaking at a news conference to announce the results of the 2008 UPSR, Thursday.
He said 238,153 candidates answered their Mathematics paper fully in English. Last year, only 1,075 tackled the paper in English.
"All candidates are allowed to answer fully in English or Bahasa Melayu or their mother tongue, or a combination of the three," he said.
Alimuddin said improvement was also seen in five subjects, including in vernacular schools (SJK), which are Malay Comprehension, Malay Writing, English, Chinese Writing, Tamil Writing and Science.
"These subjects have shown a significant improvement, with 4.1 per cent scoring A's for Malay Writing in national schools (SK) and Malay Comprehension for vernacular schools.
"National schools recorded an improvement of 4.4 per cent for English, while Chinese Writing had an improvement of 3.9 per cent," he said, adding that the highest improvement was 4.8 per cent for Tamil Writing.
He said the level of increase or decrease in subject performance was measured by the Subject Grade Point Average, which is 0.03.
"The six subjects showing significant improvement are Malay Comprehension SK at 0.07, Malay Writing SK (0.06), Malay Writing SJK (0.11), Chinese Writing (0.07) and Tamil Writing at 0.04, while the highest improvement was recorded for English SK at 0.24," he said.
Meanwhile in KUALA LUMPUR, education department director Mohd Radzi Jabar said Sekolah Kebangsaan Bukit Damansara emerged with the best UPSR results for the second year running, with 50.31 per cent scoring 5A's.
Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina Kuen Cheng (2) ranked as the best Chinese vernacular school with 14.76 per cent and Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil Sungai Besi was the best Tamil vernacular school with 9.8 per cent, scoring 5A's.
Of the 25,671 students in Kuala Lumpur who sat for the UPSR, 98.14 per cent were candidates from schools under the Education Ministry while the rest were candidates from private schools.
In SEREMBAN, state education department assessment and examination sector head Hamzah Abu said the number of excellent students had decreased with only 2,225 candidates or 11.4 per cent of the total 19,531 candidates scoring 5A's or 7A's.
Last year, 2,269 candidates or 11.9 per cent of the 18,993 obtained excellent marks.
In SARAWAK, the number of top scorers increased to 2,044 candidates receiving 5A's this year as compared to 1,991 last year.
Among factors said to contribute to the success include using mind maps, surfing the Internet, eating raisins and drinking chicken essence each morning.
A top scorer, Kimberly Chian, 12, said she used mind maps to speed up the process of understanding a subject.
"My mother taught me how to make mind maps. I used this tip because it helps me to remember important facts," the SK Green Road student told Bernama here today.
The youngest of two siblings said she spent two hours a day, from Monday to Friday, to revise various subjects.
For Muhammad Iqmal Hijaz Ibrahim, he made a point to revise his short notes, as well as have essence of chicken and raisins in his diet to sharpen the mind.
"They provide nutrients needed to keep me alert and fit while learning," said the 12-year-old who was one of 43 students from SK Green Road to score 5A's.
In SABAH, 955 students scored all A's as compared to only 60 last year, said state education department deputy director Muhiddin Yussin.
In KEDAH, 3,482 students or 8.69 per cent of 40,062 UPSR candidates scored all A's this year.
State education director Shahidan Abdul Rahman said 24,775 candidates or 61.84 per cent passed in all subjects.
In PAHANG, five Orang Asli students were among 3,140 candidates who scored 5A's in their examinations, said state education department deputy director Abdul Hamid Abu Bakar.
He said 25 schools in the state achieved 100 per cent results this year, as compared to 15 schools last year.
In JOHOR, 5,987 students or 9.64 per cent of 62,401 UPSR candidates scored all A's, said state education director Sufaat Tumin.
He said Johor ranked as the third best state in the 2008 UPSR examination, achieving a 2.22 School Grade Point Average.
Sufaat said Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC) Foon Yew 1, Johor Baharu saw the highest number of high achievers with 115 students, followed by Sekolah Kebangsaan Bandar Uda 2, Johor Baharu with 87 students and Sekolah Kebangsaan Infant Jesus Convent, Johor Baharu with 85 students.
"Five blind students from Sekolah Kebangsaan Pendidikan Khas Princess Elizabeth, Johor Baharu, were listed as blind excellent students, five students from several special education schools in the state were listed as physically-impaired excellent students and five Orang Asli students were named as excellent students in the Orang Asli category," he said.
-- BERNAMA
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