Jimmy Puah (PH-Tebrau) said he welcomed Putrajaya’s cooperation with the city-state but urged the government not to forget Malaysians who are equally or even more capable.
“Personally, I do not consider Singaporeans as being very fluent in English. In fact, I think we have many experts, many more Malaysians who are fluent in English.
“Is the government looking to engage Malaysians who are more fluent in English, such as retired (English) teachers?
“We have many retired teachers who don’t have any work now, so why not engage them to teach English (to students in rural areas)?” he said in a parliamentary question to education minister Fadhlina Sidek.
Fadhlina replied that the ministry welcomed retired English teachers to come out of retirement and teach again to boost students’ proficiency in the language.
“We welcome volunteers from Singapore, and we also welcome retired teachers who want to serve with us again. No problem,” she said.
She also said the ministry would identify suitable Singaporean volunteers before bringing them into Malaysia, to ensure the quality of teaching.
She said the initiative was nothing new and had previously involved teachers from Australia, the US and South Korea.
Last month, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said he had discussed with Singapore prime minister Lawrence Wong the possibility of bringing in volunteers from the city-state to teach English and other subjects in rural parts of Malaysia.
Anwar said the cost would be fully borne by Singapore.
Former minister Rafidah Aziz later said Putrajaya should consider hiring retired English teachers for this purpose, calling for a review of the syllabi for schools and teacher training.
Last year, it was reported that Malaysia was ranked third in Asia in the international 2023 Education First English Proficiency Index while Singapore came out tops.
Singapore also ranked second globally among 113 countries.
The Star however reported that experts disputed the results, saying the index should involve a larger sample and that the test only focused on reading and listening, while writing and speaking skills were not assessed.