By Nigel Edgar
SERIAN, July 28: Minister of Education, Science and Technological Research Datuk Seri Michael Manyin Jawong discloses that beginning 2019, primary schools in Sarawak will have 20 periods per week where subjects will be taught in English.
These included 10 periods of English Language lessons, six periods of Mathematics and four periods of Science which will be using English as medium of instruction following the implementation of teaching Science and Mathematics in English.
“I urge teachers and parents to support this programme. If we use 10 periods for English Language, six periods for Mathematics (in English) and four periods for Science, altogether the students would spend about 20 periods a week speaking English (Primary 1).
“I believe by the end of Primary 6, the students would be able to confidently speak and communicate in English,” said Manyin.
For now, he urged teachers not to penalise students on grammatical mistakes when the students attempt to speak English. Instead, he said teachers should praise them for trying.
“Students, don’t worry about mistakes. Gasak aja. As long as you speak English, other friends will follow,” said Manyin, adding both teachers and students must all try to communicate with each other in English as much as possible.
“A total of 2,873 teachers are to be trained to teach Science and Mathematics in English starting next month. The state cabinet has approved my proposal for RM11 million to be used to train the teachers and buy learning and teaching materials.
“Not a single sen from the federal,” he stressed.
Meanwhile, he also reminded teachers and educators to prepare their students for the digital economy and Industrial Revolution (IR) 4.0.
He said federal Entrepreneur Development Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Yusof last week said about 70 per cent of fresh graduates today fail to get jobs due to several factors, among them not possessing the right or marketable qualifications.
“I would like to remind the teachers here to be prepared. About 70 per cent of our (Malaysian) graduates cannot get jobs, the federal minister said, not me.
“Therefore you must guide our boys and girls to inculcate the interest for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects,” said Manyin during the closing ceremony of a three-day UPSR Camp for Tebedu constituency at Kampung Pichin near here this morning.
The camp was participated by hundreds of UPSR students from primary schools around Tebedu, accompanied by their teachers. — DayakDaily
