Why the new MUET requirements won't make a huge dent in the future

Good intentions can often lead to unintended consequences so when the Malaysian government decided to increase the MUET (Malaysian University English Test) requirement for public university admissions, although timely, it opened a can of worms.

This new policy applies only to public universities, so as menacing as it appears, students who fail to meet the minimum MUET requirements can always count on private institutions to break their fall. With limited seats offered in public varsities, the remaining (between 16,000 and 18,000) fresh SPM and pre-university leavers would have to go to private institutions. Whether these students come from public or private institutions, they will join the nation's talent pool in the end.

In the future, the lack of standardization across sectors could pose problems. If we trace back past events, such as the issue of under-qualified college graduates in the medical, nursing, and law fields, the culprit is always the lackadaisical screening process and requirements for new university entrants.

So the questions that beg to be answered are: When will MUET requirements be standardized in both sectors? Will private sector set their bottom lines aside for the sake of national growth?

Another point that needs to be pondered would be the lack of a holistic approach to improving English proficiency across all education levels. Students need more avenues to make English feel more alive --- and not just a subject paper that needs to be perfected.

A standalone solution (MUET band increase) won’t be enough and certainly would require some support. So why not nip the issue in the bud?

PPSMI (Learning of Science and Mathematics in English) has long been proposed by many advocates of this policy. As we all know, language is a skill that takes time and practice to develop, and what better way to start speaking and thinking English than with subjects that thrive on English!

English is the lingua franca of science and other progressive subjects. Although it is a fact that the great minds of science, maths and technology are not all native English speakers, they have, to some extent, mastery of the language enough to access relevant publications and gain international success.

With that said reintroducing PPSMI in schools makes sense, especially now that government conveyed its plans to make more students take STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) subjects. Government plans to achieve the ratio of 60:40 for children interested in STEM as compared to non-STEM education and careers.

In a nutshell, the new MUET policy is a good move by our government however it is not sustainable unless it is supported by the private sector and programmes that complement its goal.

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Written by Lyn Cacha