Education minister Fadhlina Sidek said the proposal to establish a scheme or appoint volunteers funded by Singapore to teach English in specific areas of Malaysia not only aims to enhance English proficiency among students, but will also strengthen diplomatic relations between the two countries.

“This initiative is not entirely new as we have previously engaged educators from the US and South Korea to teach English and Korean.

“I do not foresee any significant challenges in implementing this programme,” she said on the sidelines of an event in Kuala Lumpur today, Bernama reported.

Last month, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said he had discussed the possibility of bringing in Singaporean teachers to teach English or other subjects in Malaysia with his Singaporean counterpart, Lawrence Wong.

Anwar later clarified that the proposal was to establish a scheme to send volunteers to teach English to the urban poor and those in the interior of East Malaysia.

The National Union of the Teaching Profession previously rejected Anwar’s proposal, saying Malaysia has enough English language teachers.

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