Once upon a time

PPSMI: That unilateral moment

Just like the whole state of the nation, we are to be honest in a kind of a (total) mess.  The ‘state of wholeness’ begins with the judiciary to the Royal Police force, to the election commission to the so-called anti-corruption commission, and the list continues. It is gloomy.  Indeed, gloomy it is.

With such degree of absurdity, do you solemnly and sincerely believe that our education system has been spared?  Honestly I, for once do not wish to be seen so completely unreasonably-extremely negative. Yes, I have tried to convince myself, but to no avail; in spite of the argument that world-wide we are comparatively, still above average in terms of quality.

Satisfied are you that it has been reasonably free and independent from the mighty grip of politics? 

Just look at the Charlie-Chaplin’s versions of some dons at the helm; frequently wielding such pitiful pathetic antics in order to out-smart each other in their pro-establishment stance.     

2.

Now let us look at our great English debate which has been sticking out like a sore thumb in our education system.  It has been for some years now since the great Apanamanya unilaterally declared that for the sake of its competency, English has to come in for the teaching mathematics and science.  We must not forget, AS a great leader he did that for Islam too.  

Some quarters, especially parents have adamantly been pleading and arguing, for the sake of our children’s future; please let us revert to English as our medium of instruction.  A situation similar to what we used to have before our independence.

3.

On this issue of the importance of English, we can all argue until the end of time.  We can rake, plough and pluck all sorts of argument to establish our case.  I often come across this interesting perspective of English as a mighty powerful weapon to earn one’s decent living.  Some talk of a developed nation is almost something impossible without that universal language of commerce and knowledge.  I am afraid; we are forever entangled in this great debate.    

Ever seen that cute, cheeky playful little kitten chasing its own tail?  That is the state we are in when we talk of English and its importance vis-à-vis nation-building.   

4.

The purpose of education is to impart knowledge to human kind, so they say.  In our country, 97% of that Homo sapiens breed is said to be conversant in its mother tongue.  Some sectors of our population, particularly the affluent-urbanites ─ Malays included, argue that English is actually their mother tongue.  Hence an English medium school option for the whole country is very much justified.

In this respect, I have heard of those who argued, rather cruelly though,  that the minority 3% of the affluent population, again mostly urbanites who really crave to see English as the  medium of instruction for their children, to consider the option of sending their children to private schools which use English as the medium of instruction.  That, blatantly is the tyranny of the majority, you might say.

Actually what has really happened or what is actually happening to us now, I mean to our education system?  

Aren’t we going back to where we started off before our independence?

It looks we are now back on to the drawing board, nervously re-looking and scrutinizing at the very tenets of our so-called nation-building process.  

5.

Incidentally, some people have argued that this whole ‘PPSMI thing’ has been implemented via a series of projects.  Over the years such projects included the supply of books and compact disks, worth millions, to schools through out our entire nation.

Let’s say you are one of the selected few, a crony of such an assured-profitable business venture, are you happy if it is scrapped off?