KUCHING: Sarawak is ready to implement teaching and learning Mathematics and Science in English programme next year, starting with Year 1 of primary schools throughout the state.
State’s Education, Science and Technological Research Minister Datuk Seri Michael Manyin Jawong said 1,046 out of a total of 1,265 primary schools in the state will take part in the programme.
The remaining 219 Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC) indicated that they prefer to continue the subjects using Mandarin.
“Hence, we need to train 2,657 teachers this year, who will be teaching Year 1’s Mathematics and Science next year.
“Out of the total, 1,005 will be trained for teaching Science in English, 1,275 for Mathematics while 377 for both subjects,” he said, adding that for the following years, 7,508 teachers are expected to undergo the training for Year 2 to Year 6 syllabus.
During the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) examination, pupils are given option to answer in English or Malay – whichever they are more comfortable with.
The programme, Manyin said, was supported and assisted by the Education Ministry as it was the Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s idea for schools to opt to teach the two subjects in English or Malay.
“This is a programme and not a policy; meaning it is not compulsory. But, we take this challenge to be the first and we will go all out to ensure it success,” he told the reporters at the Baitulmakmur Building here today.
The teachers are expected to attend their training in end of August, whereby the Education Ministry will be providing the modules and other training materials.
“We will be allocating RM9 million for the programme and we can’t afford to fail. Hence, we hope the teachers, parents, community leaders, various organisations and the society will support us,” he added.
Manyin said various public and private universities such as Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) Swinburne University and Curtin University are fully behind the state government and willing to provide trainers for the programme.
“So, we will not be facing shortage of trainers,” he said.
The programme, he said, will help the students to speak and communicate in English fluently and confidently, which is more easily accepted in the market in the future.
“Very often, our fresh graduates failed to secure a job, especially in the private sector as they don’t have a good command of English,” he added.