English and the SPM

Should English be made a compulsory paper to pass in the SPM? For me it's definitely a Yes! Yes! and a Yes!! I first saw it posted on Twitter just now and then I read about it on the NST online. Our DPM, who is also the Education Minister is asking the public to give their views on this matter and he said that he was surprised that it is not compulsory to gain a pass in the subject to be given the certificate. I feel that it is time the government and education ministry look seriously into this matter. I'm sure they would have come to the realisation that many of our students in schools and graduates from the higher learning institutions cannot really converse well in the language. At the same time, there are some parties who are trying to ask the government to abolish the teaching of Maths and Science in English (PPSMI) and to revert to the old system. Excuse me, are they in their right mind? Can't they see the disaster that would happen if they abolished the present system? As it is, the students are not doing very well in English and by abolishing it ... I dare not imagine. With PPSMI, we see that our children are at least putting an effort into learning the language because they know that if they do not learn it, they will be at the losing end. How are they going to compete with others at the international level? There are times when I went to the shopping mall and I needed information on certain products and had to ask for assistance from the promoters, more often than not I would end up being disappointed because these people would fail to give me the information that I needed. So, should we abolish PPSMI? Should English be made a compulsory subject in the SPM? I still stand firm by my opinion.

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