KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia, in partnership with Australia, is looking to boost English language as a second language in schools across the country. Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin told the Bernama news agency that there would be the introduction of a new training program to boost teachers of English in the country. He said the cooperation was not just to meet the English teaching staff strength but more importantly to “improve the proficiency” of the English language teachers in Malaysia. “Apart from increasing the number of teachers, we will also be taking in English language experts from Australia or send our teachers there for training. “We are exploring all these but no decisions have been made,” Muhyiddin told reporters at the end of the first East Asia Summit (EAS) Education Ministers Meeting on Friday. Muhyiddin, who is also Education Minister, also held a bilateral meeting with Australian Higher Education Minister Christopher Evans on the sidelines of the EAS meeting. Teachers are excited about the new initiative and believe it could be a way to boost Malaysians' ability to enter the global job market with the necessary skills. “We always struggle with teaching English and I think with the assistance of Australia, it could be a great thing for our young people,” secondary school teacher Mariam Fouk told Bikyamasr.com. “Our youth should be speaking English so they can compete on the global stage.” There are now 60,000 English language teachers at both primary and secondary schools throughout Malaysia. The Deputy PM added that the learning of English as a second language cooperation program between Malaysia and Australia was a continuation of cooperation in several programs before.
