KUALA LUMPUR: The Education Ministry is reviewing the proposed scheme to bring in voluntary English teachers from Singapore to assist with teaching English in rural areas of the country.
Its minister Fadhlina Sidek said the ministry will also identify volunteers with specific qualifications to ensure a quality teaching and learning process (PdP) can be conducted.
"Similar initiatives have been undertaken by the ministry previously, involving educators from other countries such as the United States, Australia, and (South) Korea," she said during minister's question time in Dewan Rakyat today.
Fadhlina said this in response to Kalam Salan (PN-Sabak Bernam) who asked the minister about the specific plans regarding the proposal to bring in voluntary English teachers from Singapore as recently announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
In a supplementary question, Kalam also asked Fadhlina on the monitoring mechanisms and regulations that the ministry will employ in the PdP process conducted by the volunteers in schools under the ministry.
Fadhlina said all regulations and monitoring mechanisms will be overseen by the ministry under the current regulations applicable to all schools nationwide.
"All of this will be monitored by the ministry. And as emphasised earlier, the ministry welcomes the proposal and will review it carefully to ensure that all relevant aspects raised (by all parties) will be monitored.
"Nevertheless, the aim of the proposal must be achieved in line with the discussions between Prime Minister (Anwar) and Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong to improve English proficiency among our children," she said.
On calls from certain quarters advocating for the government to focus on hiring retired Malaysian teachers instead, Fadhlina said there is no issue with employing retired educators to participate in the scheme.
She also said the ministry welcomes retired teachers who wish to serve with the ministry in the scheme.
"There is no issue here. We welcome Singaporean volunteers if they want to come, and we also welcome retired teachers who want to serve with us.
"In fact, the involvement of retired (Malaysian) teachers has been beneficial and their participation has greatly assisted the ministry in enhancing the PdP process for English language teaching in schools.
"This includes through the HIP Mentor programme introduced by the ministry with retired teachers to help create an English language environment in schools through various engaging approaches and activities.
"Hence, there really is no issue for us to open up space for retirees to join us and contribute their expertise, providing suggestions on how we can better prepare and learn English more effectively."
Last month, Anwar announced that the government is considering a potential scheme with the Singaporean government to bring teachers from Singapore to volunteer in rural areas of Sabah and Sarawak to teach English.
Anwar said these discussions were aimed at strengthening relationships with neighbouring countries, including Singapore.
It was reported that Johor and Singapore are already collaborating on a joint education project with a new curriculum involving programme exchanges and teacher training.