COMMENT | Are we serious about improving English proficiency?

COMMENT | While speaking at a Madani event last Friday, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim clarified that he had broached the possibility of Singapore “volunteers” teaching English in urban poor areas and the interior of Sabah and Sarawak to his Singapore counterpart Lawrence Wong.

This is an honest admission that there is an urgent need to improve the proficiency of English in the country. This is commendable.

English is the international language and its importance to the sciences, commerce and technology hardly needs any emphasis. To progress, we need a good command of English. This is the undeniable truth.

It is a wonder why the government, which has a huge majority in Parliament, does not land hard on those narrow-minded politicians who oppose any attempt to improve the standard of English and who have become an obstacle to our progress.