English a 'must pass' in SPM as early as 2016

• Students who fail English will not be awarded with full certificates
• Those who fail can re-sit for the paper in July the following year

According to Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, the proposal to make English a must pass subject in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) could be carried out as early as 2016.

Full certificates will not be awarded to students who fail English. However, they will have the chance to re-sit the paper in July the following year, not long after the SPM results are announced. In preparation for this, the Education Ministry had started training 61,000 English teachers to be more proficient in the language, he said.

Muhyiddin, who is also the Education Minister, said training English teachers was under the first wave of the National Education Development Plan (2013-2025).

"The second wave will start in 2016 and that is when we propose to implement the pass in English ruling," he said, adding that his ministry will again solicit feedback from stakeholders first, such as Parent Teacher Associations, before implementing this.

"I am told that based on the existing SPM curriculum, only 20% pupils fail English each year,"added Muhyiddin.

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