The Education Ministry has studied hundreds of feedbacks from various parties and the cabinet would be making its decision on whether to continue the teaching of mathematics and science in English (PPSMI) in schools very soon, said Deputy Education Minister Wee Ka Siong.

Wee said this today following resistance by Malay language activists who had threatened the government with a mass protest rally if the decision to teach both the core subjects in English is not reversed.

According to the deputy minister,22 research papers have been scrutinised, in addition to five round table discussions and hundreds of memorandums.

wee ka siong“We have taken many views into consideration but now it is up to the cabinet to decide and make the announcement,” said Wee.

Speaking to reporters later, Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein reiterated that the push by certain quarters for the policy to be scrapped would not determine the cabinet’s decision.

“If they want to do something, go ahead but the ministry will not budge on the agenda that the decision depends on the views of all quarters not just certain groups,” he was quoted by Bernama after launching a reality television show in Putrajaya.

Wee added that he was not going to be “engaged in a war of words with them (Malay language activists)”.

Federation of Malay Writers Associations (Gapena) and several other groups had wanted to protest as the movement had given a Dec 31 deadline for the government to explain the issue.

Gapena rally planned for Feb 15

The policy to conduct mathematics and science in English was introduced by the Education Ministry in 2003 and implemented in phases, starting with Year One, Form One and Lower Six.

Gapena said the rally is expected to be held on Feb 15 and dubbed as “152” to symbolise Article 152 of the federal constitution, which states that Malay is the country’s official language.

The writers’ association had also warned of a legal action against the government for not complying with the constitutional provisions and for “killing the Malay language”.

Asked on how the use of English for the subjects would result in the death of the Malay language, the association's second secretary Hasni Abas said: “The action is like a river and it would sooner or later widened out and lead to the extinction in the usage of the Malay language”.

He also said that teaching the subjects in English alone would not improve the progress of the students.

'Improve the method of teaching English'

“The ministry should improve the method of teaching English itself, not increase the usage by converting other subjects to be taught in English,” he exclaimed.

Also against the teaching of mathematics and science in English, an NGO Malay organisation called “Save the Malay Language” secretariat had vowed last month to hold a gathering of 100,000 people in March to petition to the Agong to intervene.

The rally, to be organised by the secretariat, which is now known as the Coalition for the Abolition of Teaching Mathematics and Science in English, was inspired by the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) rally in November 2007.

Meanwhile, a Chinese language education group in response to the protests by Malay NGO groups have set a new deadline for the government to respond on the matter by March.

The group which is meeting on Sunday said that they would be organising a series of protests if the government fails to abide by the deadline.