‘Umno man’s English school call sweet tune for GE14'

A PKR leader has asked if the support for English-medium schools shown by Umno Youth’s deputy this week is merely to gain support ahead of the coming general election.

PKR national integration bureau chief R Santhara Kumar said Malaysian students are treated like "laboratory rats" every time the education minister changes.

He was commenting on Umno Youth deputy chief Khairul Azwan Harun, who said on Wednesday he supports having more English-medium schools in Malaysia.

"This statement seems like it is only to give hope to voters of certain races in the coming general election.

"I say this not because I do not like (the use of) English, but because we must be realistic.

"Our country's education policy is like a test laboratory, every time the education minister's portfolio changes, the policy changes.

"Students at schools are treated like 'laboratory rats' by the Umno-BN government," Santhara said in a statement today.

BN’s ‘discriminatory policies’ faulted

Santhara pointed out English-medium schools are nonexistent because BN’s policies, unless changes are made in the Education Act and the national education policy.

He said what must be done now is to strengthen both the Malay language as the official language of the country and proficiency in English.

For example, he said, the government should prepare an additional classes scheme for students who are weak in English.

Umno-BN's “discriminatory policies” that focus on teacher manpower and students based on race will not solve the education issues in the country, he said.

"Not only that, the education budget, which gets cut every other year causes many excelling students to become unable to further their studies.

"This is a loss to the country," Santhara said.

Khairul Azwan speaking at a National Transformation 2050 (TN50) dialogue with education groups said he personally supports the initiative to have more English-medium schools in Malaysia.

However, he said he was not sure if the current policy will allow for this, adding there needs to be some policy changes.- Mkini