“Give a man a fish and you’ll feed him for a day. Teach a man how to fish and he’ll never go hungry”. That is the value of education and how fundamental it is in shaping the future of man. Especially the youth of today who will one day become our leaders of tomorrow.I was the pioneer batch for PPSMI (Teaching and Learning of Science and Mathematics in English) when it was first introduced in 2003. When Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced doing away with the policy, I felt a shot of disappointment because I believed that the policy that had existed for eight years was now maturing – and now, it was to be brought down to its knees, and shot.
Those against PPSMI talk of how countries like Germany and Japan are still able to stick to their national language, yet still take leaps of progression in science and technology. But one thing frequently overlooked is that fact that these countries have an immense pool of talents and scholars in science and technology as compared to Malaysia.
Our education system has to constantly import foreign sources of knowledge, the majority of them in the English language. As a matter of fact, all textbooks and references at the tertiary level of education is in the English medium. I can only imagine the shock MBMMBI (Upholding the Malay Language and Strengthening Command of English) graduates will face after 11 years of learning science and mathematics in the national language.
This is not to say that the national language is not of importance. I wholeheartedly believe that the national language represents our identity and becomes a tool for unity. This is evident in how your average Malaysian – regardless of race, despite having a grasp in at least two languages – still chooses to converse in the national language because it is something every one of us can identify and be proud of.
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