Math and Science in English...why it is not working

Ever read The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling? In it there are stories about Mowgli, a character who has extraordinary skills in hunting and tracking. As one reads on, it is discovered his exceptional talents are because the young man had been brought up and taught by a pack of wolves. There's another one which I enjoy listening and reading with Little Rainbow. It's a story from this website called BookPALS Storyline Online called Guji Guji. The storyline goes like this...a crocodile egg goes rolling into a duck's nest. The egg hatched and the baby croc grew up behaving like a duck. Go click on it...nice to listen cos the readers are all pro actors and actresses...

Back to my topic of Math and Science in English...why it is not working. The MOE has this year decided to add new elements into the PTP (Penilaian Tahap Profisiensi) for teachers of Math and Science. So, these teachers have to sit for an English Paper with Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking components.

The exam is rather rigorous because each component is tested separately. For example in the speaking component there are 5 bands for the speaking components...starting with

1. Band 1 - Very weak user
2. Band 2 - Limited user
3. Band 3 - Modest user
4. Band 4 - Competent user
5. Band 5 - Excellent user

Well, I think if we are to look at the teachers' command of English, we'd find that quite a big group of them fall into the Band 1 and Band 2 groups. This is most probably very true for most of the states in Malaysia. If our young are taught by teachers who themselves are very weak or limited users of the language, how can they have a good command of the language?

If Mowgli has the abilities of the wolves because he is taught by them and Guji Guji behaves like the ducks even though he is actually a crocodile just because he grows up with the ducks (he became a crocoduck, LOL), then our children who are taught by teachers who are incompetent in the language of instruction will be at best, very weak and limited users themselves, after their teachers.

In our fear of that our national language will lose its importance and significance, we allowed our myopic views to destroy what could have been one of our greatest assets...a population who are competent users of the English Language. Cos this will surely help our society become more knowledgeable and open. We have missed a lot of opportunities because of that!