KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 11 — Teachers will have trouble utilising the imported English textbooks as they currently do not have full access to the audio and video the materials that come with books, a DAP MP has claimed.
Zairil Khir Johari also pointed out that the Ministry of Education (MOE) had failed to provide a teaching curriculum or guideline called Dokumen Standard Kurikulum dan Pentaksiran or DSKP for the new English textbooks.
“One major problem that will be faced by teachers and students with the ‘imported’ textbooks is accessibility to audio and video materials.
“In both the Super Minds and Pulse 2 textbooks for year 1 and form 1 students respectively, almost every page contains references to digital material. Unfortunately, the textbooks provided to Malaysian students do not come with CDs or any other means to access the audio and visual material,” he said in a statement.
The DAP parliamentary spokesman for education, science and technology said that for the Pulse 2 textbook, only two CDs have been distributed to each school to be used by teachers in the classroom.
“In other words, it is only during class that the textbooks would be useful. Students and parents who wish to study or do exercises at home would not be able to access the digital content. This effectively means that the textbooks are of little use other than during lessons in the classroom,” he added.
In contrast, Zairil pointed out how the local KSSM Form 1 English Language textbook by Pelangi, a local publisher provides easy accessibility to the audio and video materials simply by scanning the QR code on the cover via an application that can be downloaded online.
He said the lack of accessibility to digital material for the “imported” Pulse 2 textbook is disappointing given the fact that they cost RM38 a copy compared to RM7.50 for the KSSM textbook by Pelangi, and that those who wanted to purchase the CDs in order to access the digital material would have to fork our RM199 for a single copy.
“Clearly, the sudden decision to switch from local to ‘imported’ textbooks was not carefully planned. Notwithstanding the opaque manner in which these textbooks was procured — without an open tender and at a very high cost, the lack of preparation by MOE will also mean that teachers will be hampered in their attempts to teach their students using these new textbook,” the Bukit Bendera MP added.
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.
