KUALA LUMPUR: There should be a paradigm shift in the way that schools are running the Dual Language Programme (DLP) to both promote students to be proficient in both English and Malay and to increase mastery of Mathematics and Science subjects.
In a special appearance on the New Straits Times' chat show, Beyond the Headlines, UPM's Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication senior academic, Dr Ida Baizura Bahar, said the conflation between mastery of the subjects with fluency of the languages should cease to exist.
The focus, she said, should be on ensuring the subjects are taught for students to foster interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects especially when pursuing tertiary education.
"I believe there is a conflation between mastery of the subjects (Science and Mathematics) with fluency in the language (Malay and English).
"If you look at the whole policy (Malaysian education blueprint), it does not say that it (DLP) is used as a medium to enhance fluency in the language. It says to use the language to master the content of the subjects.
"We just want to ensure these subjects are taught so that we produce more students who will be interested in STEM who will then go on to tertiary level to pursue science programmes.
"So we have to be clear of the trajectory of the polemics (of DLP). It cannot go off tangent, it cannot be self-serving and it has to to cater to the national agenda," she said.
On Sunday, the New Sunday Times reported that parents of Standard One pupils in four schools are up in arms as their children will have no choice but to learn Science and Mathematics in Bahasa Melayu, instead of having the option of undergoing the Dual Language Programme (DLP).
They are questioning the need for the Education Ministry to now push for "stricter" DLP conditions that require a minimum of one full class per school learning the subjects in Bahasa Malaysia (BM) as a "prerequisite" for DLP classes.
This requirement, seven years after the DLP programme started in 2016, has led to an overnight shift for some students, who are now required to study the subjects in BM instead of English.
Parent Action Group for Education (Page) chairman Datin Noor Azimah Abdul said students should be allowed to choose the language they are most comfortable with to excel in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects.
Moving forward, Ida said for the DLP programme to be able to be viable in the following decades, there should be strategic implementation and also ongoing evaluation of the programme.
Some of the ways, she said, is to provide adequate training for teachers through the Education Ministry's English Language Training Centre and updated infrastructures for students to learn mathematics and science.
She added that the ministry should have a standard yardstick to evaluate whether the programme is a success or the opposite.