NUTP president Aminuddin Awang said many Malaysian graduates from public and private universities were interested and qualified to become English teachers.

“The current lack of English teachers can be alleviated through a special intake of English teachers on a permanent or contract of service basis.

“We have seen English teachers being brought in (from abroad) previously, but this did not yield any positive effect and only incurred higher costs,” he told FMT.

Aminuddin cited a previous programme that brought in 50 English teaching assistants under the US’s Fulbright Program every year, and posting them to various government schools across the country.

Yesterday, Anwar said he had discussed with Singapore prime minister Lawrence Wong the possibility of bringing in teachers from the city-state to teach English and other subjects in Malaysia.

He, however, stopped short of providing more details on the proposal.

Earlier, former minister Rafidah Aziz said Putrajaya should instead consider hiring retired English teachers for this purpose, pointing out that employing Singaporeans would mean needing to pay three-and-a-half times more due to the currency exchange rate.

She also suggested that the government revise the teacher training syllabus to include English competency, and the school syllabus to include English proficiency.