He said the re-establishment of English-medium government schools in the state was a proactive measure to produce more human capital that had mastered the universal language from an early age.
“Mastery of English is one way to be more productive and competitive. By mastering the language, Sabah will be able to ‘speed up’ the pursuit of narrowing the development gap between the state and those in the peninsula.
“For that reason, I propose that the Sabah government allow the re-establishment of English-medium government schools so that we can give an advantage to the children of Sabah to master the language and compete in the job market and boost domestic ability,” he said.
Rahman, who is also Kota Belud MP said this to Bernama after the launch of the Highly Immersive Programme (HIP) at Sekolah Kebangsaan Tempasuk 1 here today.
For a start, Rahman proposed the education ministry implement a pilot project in selected primary and secondary schools in urban areas, including Sabah College which had the potential and were willing to make English the language of instruction in teaching and learning.
This would enable the ministry to look at the effectiveness and acceptance of the project by the people of Sabah before its implementation was extended to semi-urban and rural areas.
“I’m quite confident that the schools selected will be able to compete and perform well, thereby producing progressive-minded and competitive students,” he said.
According to him, English-medium government schools were in existence in Sabah before, but were discontinued after the state government decided to follow the national educational policy.
However, Rahman said the education ministry should look into the matter by considering the proposal in the interest of the people of Sabah who realise proficiency in English must be reinforced to progress further in various fields and keep pace with the rapid development of the country.