For details, go to
http://usapps2009.blogspot.com.

All you have to do is participate in a competition called the HELP Psychology Challenge, which is open to upper secondary students. There are three parts to the competition, and details can be found at
www.help.edu.my.

Deadline for the first round is on July 18. For more details, call Grace Ng at 03-27112000.

I don’t know until when this can stand, I hope they will be no major changes after this if Dato’ Najib no more the Prime Minister.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Cabinet has decided that the medium of instruction for Maths and Science will revert to Bahasa Malaysia in national schools and mother-tongue languages in national-type schools from 2012 onwards.

The reversal of the Teaching of Math and Science in English (PPSMI) policy will be done in stages, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said on Wednesday.

He however added that there will be greater emphasis on learning the English language.

English literature will be re-introduced, as will subjects on grammar and composition.

Beginning 2012, students in Year One and Year Four in primary schools, and Form One and Form Four in secondary schools, will learn Math and Science in Bahasa Malaysia.

The change will not affect those in Form Six and Matriculation.

The two subjects will be taught in two languages until 2014 for other students, he said.

“The gap between rural and urban students has widened since PPSMI started.

“Only 19.2% of secondary teachers and 9.96% of primary teachers were sufficiently proficient in English,” he said, explaining the Government’s decision to revert to the old system.

On efforts to emphasise the learning of English, the number of English teachers would be increased by 13,933 — retirees would be hired, as well as foreigners if need be.

Primary schools will also increase English classes by 90 minutes a week.

There have been calls from various groups for the policy to revert to before 2003, when the subjects were taught in Bahasa Malaysia in national schools, and either in Chinese or Tamil in national-type schools.

The issue has seen a rare alliance between Malay and Chinese educationists, who are against the switch, although there are also calls by many parents and entrepreneurs for English to be maintained.

The history of UKEC actually had a precedent which stretches all the way back to the early 1960’s. Back then the official body for the coalition of the Malaysian Students Societies in UK was the MPPM UK, which was the Majlis Perwakilan Pelajar Malaysia di United Kingdom. MPPM as a coalition ended by mid 1980’s. After almost 10 years of silence, a new coalition was revived under the UKEC name, and the rest, as they say, was history.

For details visit UKECOnline.

On Saturday, Dato’ Seri Najib had said that the move was in tandem with the plan to limit the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia examination to 10 subjects for a more level playing field.

“The most deserving and the best of Malaysian students must be assisted to further their studies in the respective fields irrespective of race,”

Muhyiddin, who is also Education Minister, said the six core subjects in the SPM — Bahasa Melayu, English, Islamic Education or Moral Studies, History, Mathe­matics and Science — would remain the same. those in the science stream are exempted from taking Science so this means they take five core subjects and can choose five elective subjects
The same applies to those in the religious stream as they would be exempted from taking Islamic Education, while those in the joint science and religious stream were exempted from Islamic Education and Science.

Muhyiddin said the rationale behind the decision was to ensure students had more time for extra-curricular activities.

What do you think of this ?

My personal opinion is this will be a major disaster especially those students from kampung, estet etc. Students in town I don’t see any problem but not all are good in english too. Anyway, lets see the end of this proposal.

Many object to making English a ‘must pass’ SPM subject
By KAREN CHAPMAN

PETALING JAYA: Most of the 500 views received by the Education Ministry as at the end of office hours yesterday are against any move to make English compulsory in order to obtain the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) certificate.

A ministry official said those who contacted the ministry wanted the status quo to remain.

“We started receiving telephone calls from 10am until 5.30pm yesterday,” she said.

From today, she said people could telephone the ministry’s hunting line at 03-7723-7070 with their views from 8am to 5.30pm.

“There are 27 lines and we have enough people manning them,” she said.

People can also e-mail their views to kpkpm@moe.gov.my or send a fax to 03-7710-8880.

On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had said he was surprised to learn that English was not a “must pass” subject for SPM and wanted public feedback on the matter.

The Education Minister said it was a revelation to him as he had always thought that it was a prerequisite since students had to learn English in school.

He said he was also shocked to learn that national schools no longer taught English grammar.

Muhyiddin said students were now merely learning communicative English.

“This means they are picking up the language for communication purposes only,” he said, adding that almost 70% of students who take English passed the subject.

A pass in English has never been compulsory for SPM. Since 2000, a pass in

Bahasa Malaysia was sufficient to get the SPM certificate. Previously, a credit was a must.

Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said this was because 90% of all students took a maximum of 10 subjects or less.

“We want to streamline and also make it easier when it comes to giving out scholarships,” he told reporters on Thursday after laying the foundation stone for the new Tunku Kurshiah College.

He added the grading system for the examination will also be improvised to better reflect the academic achievements of students.

What do you think of this latest news ?

The Times Higher Edu­­cation (THE) Quacquarelli Sy­­monds (Qs) has recently released the Top 100 Asian Universities List. This is the first regional ranking The Times.

Universiti Malaya leads four other universities at 39th spot. The other four universities were Universiti Ke­­bang­­­saan Malaysia (51st), Universiti Sains Malaysia (69th), Universiti Tek­nologi Malaysia (82nd) and Universiti Putra Malaysia (90th).

QS managing director Nunzio Quac­­quarelli said the result of the QS.com Asian University Rankings was based on regional relevant mea­sures of excellence.

“The top performing universities were distinguished not only by quality but also by high productivity of research, compared to their regional peers,” he said in a statement here yesterday.

He said Malaysian universities per­formed well, with high numbers of international students and faculties, which made Malaysia an attractive option for international students.

The Top 10 ranking as follows :

1. University of Hong Kong
2. The Chinese University of Hong Kong
3. University of Tokyo
4. Hong Kong University of Science & Technology
5. Kyoto University
6. Osaka University

You can view full ranking here.