VOICES FROM FAR










Tinggalkan komen atau cadangan anda di ruang yang ditetapkan ? Terima kasih. Please leave your comments or suggestions in the comment space as provided respectively.Thank you.
Showing posts with label deterioration in English. Show all posts
Showing posts with label deterioration in English. Show all posts

Thursday, March 26, 2009

MALAYSIA, 1st IN EDUCATION EXPENDITURE : UNESCO

Dear friends,

As I was reading news provided by various countries in the net, this one particular news caught my attention. For those who had questioned about what the Malaysian government has done to upgrade our educational level isn't good enough, well, here's one GOOD news that might change your mind...

RADIO PHILIPPINES
25.3.2009 – 1000 HRS

MALAYSIA, THAILAND TOPS IN EDUCATION EXPENDITURE

'Malaysia had the highest allocation of total public expenditure for education at 25%, and is making good progress towards the Education for All (EFA) goals, according to a report released by UNESCO Tuesday. The share of total government expenditure devoted to education ranged from 9% in Japan to 25% in Malaysia and Thailand, said the 2009 EFA Global Monitoring Report -- Overcoming Inequality: Why Governance Matters.

The median percentage of gross national product (GNP) devoted to education was 3.6% in East Asia in 2006, with Cambodia allocating 1.8%, compared with 6.6% in Malaysia and 4.7% in Australia. UNESCO director-general Koichiro Matsuura said when financial systems failed, the consequences were highly visible and governments acted, compared to the impact when education failed. Malaysia has also one of the highest teaching staff increase in the region, with an increase of more than 30% since 1999.

UNESCO said East Asia and the Pacific accounted for nearly 13% of the world’s out-of-school population in 2006 - equivalent to 9.5 million non-enrolled children, an increase of 3.5 million since 1999. It said 75 million children of primary school age were not in school throughout the world, including just under one-third of the relevant age group in sub-Saharan Africa.

These children are being deprived of the opportunity to get their feet on the first rung of a ladder that could give them the skills and knowledge to climb out of poverty and break the transmission of disadvantage across generations. Malaysia, along with Cambodia, Myanmar and South Korea, made extraordinary progress in reducing the number of children not enrolled, but the number of out-of-school children increased in the Cook Islands, Fiji, the Philippines and Vanuatu.

The report also showed that almost all children reached the last grade of primary education in Malaysia, Brunei and Korea, as compared to Cambodia and Laos which had the survival rates of 55% and 62% respectively. On children who completed the primary education cycle, UNESCO said girls were at a disadvantage for entering secondary education, adding that the transition rate from primary to secondary education was about 90% in Malaysia, Fiji, the Philippines and Korea.

UNESCO said a recent monitoring work underlined the appalling and unequal state of education infrastructure and quality in 11 developing countries, including Malaysia and the Philippines. In terms of fundamental resources for learning, only 20% or less attending schools with no libraries in Malaysia, as compared to the Philippines where half of students attend schools with no libraries and about the same percentage, have no textbooks.'

So what do you think? Don`t you feel lucky enough that you're born in such country that cares so much about education?

==========================================

Wise man once said:
Never confuse thoughtlessness with malice
~Robert Charles Whitehead
===========================================

..Read More...

Friday, March 20, 2009

LOSERS IN THE LONG RUN-don`t politicise PPSMI

Of late we see so many people becoming demos crazy. They demo for this and that. Is there any rationale for all these demos crazy ?

For instance taking to the street for matters like the Teaching and Learning of Science and Maths in English(PPSMI) has much been politicised by Pakatan who claims the BN government `tidak membela nasib kaum Melayu`.

This is not a political issue to champion for. Even before PPSMI been implemented in 2003, we already witness three decades of deterioration in English in our generation.

Wanting English to be taught for Science and Mathematics does not make us a lesser Malay,Chinese or Indian. Do we have a soul if we are lacking behind universally or fail to be employed?

`The CHAMPIONS OF BAHASA MALAYSIA who took to the streets are doing the Malays a disservice. LOOKS LIKE THEY WANT THEIR RACE TO BE A FAILURE.` ( Idzan Ismail,Petaling Jaya-The Star VIEWS,19.3.09)

`We should percieve any language as a medium of gaining and generating knowlwedge rather than an obstacle to the process.` (Shahida Sulaiman,Penang-The Star VIEWS, 20.3.09)

Kudos to these fellow rakyat who are so sensible and down to earth.

Lets us make a reality check. Sixty percent of the Malay graduates are unemployed.They do not perform well in job interviews especially in multi-national firms because of English handicap. I think the so-called champions of Bahasa Malaysia should instead do something to readdress this issue of why the Malays and even the chinese and Indians are not fluent in English and some even fail in their Bahasa Malaysia exams.



We have seen the output of these three decades of poor English speaking and writing graduates in our workforce- civil sector,private sector or commercial etc...They could not fit in anyway and now almost being squeezed out with the rise of ICT in this globalised world.

We have always heard of the poor English standard in our foreign service.Our young diplomats no longer able to write communiques.The government had to retain many ambassadors on contracts although they are all well past retirement age.

Are our artistes standing at the international stage? Sad to say,except for a few exceptions, they remain contented as jaguh kampung. It is such a shame when even Indonesian leaders and singers are now well-conversant in English.

WE ARE LOSERS IN THE LONG RUN IF WE CONTINUE TO BE PERCEIVED BY PAKATAN SELFISH AGENDA.

WE MUST NOT REMAIN IN DENIAL. WE HAVE TO LOOK DEEP INTO PPSMI INITIATIVE.

Perhaps its implementaion in 2003 was a bit rush as most teachers involved are not ready. The intensive programme (EteMS) was insufficient to train the teachers within such a short period of time. We can not blame the teachers or the BN government for its shortcomings. Maybe the methodology and the mindset of the pupils themselves need to be reviewed.

The Education Ministry is still open to views and suggestions to improve PPSMI even though it has completed its cabinet papers.

In a nutshell, do not politicise PPSMI. We do not want to be a losers in the long run—already we have been through three decades of deterioration in English in our generation.

We cannot stop now. We are already seeing some results in PPSMI initial intiatives.

DO NOT LET LANGUAGE ,GMP (MOVEMENT OPPOSING PPSMI)OR PAKATAN BE A BARRIER TO YOUR CHILDREN AND CHILDREN`S CHILDREN FUTURE NOW.


..Read More...