TAIPING: Non-English language option teachers have to sit for the Malaysian University English Test (MUET) – a qualification they must have to teach the language.
Deputy Education Minister Teo Nie Ching said the move was necessary to allow such teachers to teach the language, apart from the minimum C1 qualification they were required to have from the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).
She said the move was to enable such teachers who had other subject options to upskill themselves to teach the English language.
“This is a government effort to ensure that English teachers were proficient in the language. It is the government’s desire to produce teachers who had a good command of the English language.
“The government is also willing to give practical and online training to increase the level of mastery in English,” she told a press conference after a working visit to Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Darul Ridwan near here, yesterday.
Teo said the ministry could provide retraining to existing English teachers to improve their mastery of the language.
She said this when commenting on the statement by National Union of The Teaching Profession (NUTP) secretary-general Harry Tan Huat Hock, who was not in agreement with the ministry’s directive requiring non-English language option teachers to sit for MUET.
Tan had also urged the Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik to intervene in the matter.
He had also in an earlier statement asked the ministry to look into a major issue affecting schools – the lack of English language teachers as well as using non-English language option teachers to teach the language.
The directive requiring non-English language option teachers to sit for MUET was to review their English proficiency level, in line with the requirements set out in the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025.
Meanwhile, during her visit to SMK Darul Ridwan, Teo approved an allocation of RM80,000 to repair two blocks of buildings and a canteen in the old school.
“I am also grateful to the Taiping Member of Parliament (MP) Teh Kok Lim and Aulong MP Nga Kor Ming, for allocating RM250,000 to repair the walkway and school canteen and for the ongoing renovations on Block B and E,” she said. – Bernama
