In the raging controversy over the continuance of the PPSMI option, there seems to be at least two main arguments put forward for not allowing it, namely, (i) it is too troublesome to have two options in the same school, and (ii) English is not the mother tongue of Malaysians.I believe that choice and flexibility must be a fundamental principle in education policy and that we should take a historical perspective of the development of our present situation.
First, we should be thankful that the right to mother tongue education and the fact that every child learns best in the mother tongue is a principle that has been established in UNESCO and is now widely accepted in our country.
Mother tongue education in Malay, Chinese and Tamil in our country has seen a staggered progress. Chinese-language schools have existed in this country for more than 200 years. The first Chinese school was set up in 1819!
Tamil schools have also had a long history and they developed mainly through community support during the colonial period. Thus, at Independence there were already 1,350 Chinese primary schools and 78 Chinese secondary schools, while Tamil primary schools numbered more than 800 in 1957.
Under colonial rule, Malay vernacular schools were built but they were certainly insufficient.
During the colonial era, Lim Lian Geok, the “Soul of the Malaysian Chinese” never failed to encourage the Malay community to call for development of Malay mother tongue education, including to secondary-level. That was why Utusan Melayu would ask Lim Lian Geok to write a column in their newspaper during Hari Raya Aidilfitri.
The English-language schools were of course the preferred system by the colonial power and they enrolled the elite and the middle class, although theoretically they were open to all.
Certainly there were also children from poorer classes in the English-medium government schools I studied at in the fifties and sixties.
As a result of this history, English language can now be considered the mother tongue of these middle-class Malaysians where English is the “family language” with which children communicate with their parents.
We should appreciate that colonial societies like ours (including India, Jamaica, Nigeria, Kenya and other British colonies) have this peculiarity and that we acknowledge and respect this reality and move on.
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