KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 6 — A DAP legislator has questioned the Education Ministry’s (MOE) reasoning in stretching out imported English textbooks meant for a single academic year to two, saying this will hinder rather than help students in learning the language.

DAP parliamentary spokesman for education, science and technology Zairil Khir Johari suggested that the policy appeared to be motivated by the cost of the material, which was four times that of a local textbook and acquired without tender.

The Bukit Bendera MP further noted that the policy came without prior warning, and will make primary one and two students use the same Super Minds text while those in forms one and two will learn from the Pulse 2 text over both years.

“This hare-brained scheme makes no sense at all. These textbooks are designed to be taught in one academic year but will now be spread over two years for Malaysian students.

“MOE must explain the rationale for doing so, because it is not clear how our students are going to improve their English proficiency by learning only four or five units a year,” he said in a statement.

He said the decision to extend the use of the textbooks over two years essentially undermined the ministry’s proposal to increase class hours for English starting next year, as students will spend more time to learn less as a result.

Zairil added that the plan to introduce the imported texts did not consider the transition to primary three and form three as it was not clear if students will return to using locally-produced texts or continue with a still-unannounced foreign curriculum.

“It is vital that MOE immediately announce what their long-term plan is for our students with respect to the use of these new ‘imported’ textbooks.

“The more uncertainty there is, the more confused our teachers and students will be and this will only cause more harm than good to our nation’s future,” he concluded.

The ministry announced in October that it will import the English textbooks to implement a curriculum aligned with the Common European Framework of Reference for Language next year.

Deputy Education Minister Datuk P. Kamalanathan reportedly said pre-schoolers, primary one and two pupils as well as students in forms one and two will pioneer the new curriculum.

The texts were reportedly acquired by Putrajaya at a cost of RM33 million.