The PPSMI(Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran dalam Bahasa Inggeris) has been announce as the government policy in 19 July 2002 under the fourth prime minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad. The PPSMI had been carrying on since 2003, started with the Standard One student for the primary school and Form One until Form Six for the secondary school.
In 2007, the secondary students who taking a public examination, Penilaian Menengah Rendah and Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia were the first batch to perform their exam according to the PPSMI. So, for the Science and Mathematics subjects, it will be conducted in two languages, Bahasa Malaysia and English. In my opinion as the second batch for the PPSMI project, the PPSMI make an important role for more understanding about the subjects especially in sciences subjects. Many scientific words are in English and cannot be translated into Bahasa Malaysia. The results shows the increasing in the scores of the two subjects especially.
For the primary school, about 520 000 students taked part in the Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah in 2008. They can answer in any language that they want, either the Bahasa Malaysia, English, Chinese or Tamil in Science and Mathematics subjects. 31% of them answered the Science questions in English, while another 46% of them answered the Mathematics paper in English. But most of them ere the students who studied in town...
Some of the politician had a bad feeling about the PPSMI. They thought that PPSMI will effect the position of the main languages in Malaysia, Bahasa Malaysia. So, in 5 April 2008, the Parti Keadilan Rakyat, has said that he would not tolerate about the position of Bahasa Malaysia in this harmony country. Around the end of year 2008 and early 2009, Gerakan Mansuhkan PPSMI (GMP) is made and the leader is Datuk Hassan Ahmad, ex-director of Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. GMP make their first demonstration in Kuala Lumpur, SOGO shopping mall at Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman in 31 January 2009.
For me, they should not involves in PPSMI because the PPSMI bring more advantages to the students especially for the secondary level. It based on my experiences while i'm study here, in University Putra Malaysia. All the references book in university level are conducted in English. Rarely, we can find the references in Bahasa Malaysia. Ex-president MAS, Tan Sri Dato' Dr. Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman said that PPSMI is against the law because it has against with seksyen 17(1) Akta 550 Akta Pendidikan 1996.
Ovearall, the PPSMI bring so much benefit to the students. On the other hand, the PPSMI projects is being charged too early. I said that because this coutry is lack with the skillful Sciences and Mathematics teachers who manage to teach their students in English. So, it causes the level of education of the students became very low. It makes the politicians thought that PPSMI only a troublesome, not a device to improve the students skill. As a students itself, I think the government SHOULD continue the PPSMI for the next generation advantages especially when they want to involve in any interview for a jobs.
