The southeastern Asian nation of Malaysia is moving to have all of its math and science courses taught in the country’s native language of Malay, rather than English.
Malaysia has changed its policy several times for these courses. As recently as 2003, it had decided to teach math and science in English, which then reflected the desire of government officials to keep pace with Singapore, as I explained on our blog, Curriculum Matters. The latest, Malay-only movement arises after objections from various interest groups, who feared that teaching math and science courses in English was unfair to the country’s native population, particularly in rural areas, according to the Associated Press.