Jeniri Amir of Univerisiti Malaysia Sarawak said the state government requires financial support to train teachers and improve their proficiency in the English language.

“The Sarawak government has been generous enough to go along with the recommendation of Science and Mathematics being taught in English in primary schools, as well as the contribution of funds,” he told FMT, adding that education should be above politics.

Sarawak Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg recently said that all textbooks for Science and Mathematics must be in English, and that teachers must undergo training as well to improve their grasp of the language.

“These two require quite a big budget,” he added. “It has to be a joint obligation between the Sarawak and federal governments, but the (federal) education ministry said they may have problems.”

State Education, Science and Technological Research Minister Michael Manyin meanwhile said Sarawak faced several challenges in successfully implementing the policy, including in training teachers and producing the necessary resources and materials.

The Malaysian English Language Teaching Association (Melta) said it is ready to help the state government train teachers, adding that previous attempts to teach Science and Mathematics in English failed in part because many teachers were unprepared.

Melta president Ganakumaran Subramaniam said lack of resources had also played a role, and noted concerns over teachers not having the proficiency to teach these subjects in English.

He suggested that the Sarawak government take a phase-by-phase approach to the initiative rather than starting everything all at once.

“Maybe in the first stage, they could run it in some pilot schools to see how it works while training the teachers and overcoming other basic problems,” he said.

He also proposed the option of teaching Science and Mathematics in both Bahasa Malaysia and English so that students can familiarise themselves with the terminology and concepts in those subjects.