KUALA LUMPUR – The government should consider utilising its existing talent pool and the services of retired English teachers instead of calling for volunteers from Singapore to teach the language to Malaysians, said Jimmy Puah (Tebrau-PH).
He said the government should engage with Malaysians who were proficient in English to teach, adding that Singaporeans’ command of the English language was not extraordinarily excellent.
“I welcome the collaboration between the government and Singapore to get volunteers. But, personally, I don’t think Singaporeans are that fluent (in English). In fact, we have many Malaysians who are fluent in the language. Find these people and engage with them and, for example, look to utilise the services of retired teachers.
“We accept the Singaporean volunteers, and at the same time, we should not forget about Malaysians,” he said.
Puah said this in his supplementary question to Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek during Minister’s Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat today.
Responding to Puah, Fadhlina said the government welcomed all volunteers, including retired Malaysian teachers and volunteers from Singapore to assist in teaching English in order to improve students’ proficiency in the language.
She said the ministry had an existing programme involving volunteers who were among retired teachers, in which they would act as mentors and assist in English language programmes in public schools.
Earlier, responding to Kalam Salan (Sabak Bernam-PN), Fadhlina explained that the scheme that was proposed during a recent meeting between Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and his Singapore counterpart Lawrence Wong was to target pupils from poor urban and rural areas, including in Sabah and Sarawak.
She said the scheme would be funded by the Singapore government and involve volunteers from Singapore.
“The ministry is currently looking into the scheme to make sure that it is in line with the ministry’s policies.
“This has been done by the Education Ministry before involving teachers from other countries, including Australia, the United States and Korea,” she said.
The proposed scheme was first revealed by Anwar in June, but it received backlash from several parties, including the Parent Action Group for Education, which had reportedly said that Malaysia should be ashamed that Singapore had to offer help to teach English to Malaysians. – July 16, 2024