PETALING JAYA: Kita chief Zaid Ibrahim today demanded that Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin provide data to support his claim that the policy of teaching Science and Mathematics in English (PPSMI) has failed.He pointed out that Muhyiddin’s statement yesterday contradicted a claim attributed to his predecessor at the Education Ministry, Hishammuddin Hussein.
Muhyiddin claimed yesterday that the government’s decision to scrap PPSMI rested on a “firm basis”. He said the decision was in fact made in 2009, after an evaluation of the effectiveness of the policy.
“We at the ministry do not make hasty decisions,” he said. “We make decisions not based on politics, but on what is best for the people and the nation. We have enough information on PPSMI. We know how PPSMI was implemented and its outcome.”
Zaid said it was not enough for the ministry to claim to know better; it must provide evidence to back its claim.
He added that Muhyiddin needed to explain the contradiction between his statement and the news reports in November 2008 that quoted Hishammuddin as saying that students had been doing better in the UPSR examination since the PPSMI was introduced.
According to the reports, Hishammuddin said it was possible that the improved performance was due to PPSMI.
“Muhyiddin must show us the data during his tenure and compare it to Hishammuddin’s tenure, and the public can decide,” said Zaid.
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