[LINK] "English Lessons for Free as Malaysia Tackles Drop in Proficiency"

[rfmcdonald]

Bloomberg's Pooi Koon Chong notes concern in Malaysia at deteriorating English standards.

Malaysia is encouraging schools to teach more classes in English and will offer free lessons to the masses as manufacturers and company chiefs say a deteriorating command of the language is hurting the country’s competitiveness.

Over 90 percent of the 190,000 respondents in an online poll this month said there should be an option to take more subjects in the language, Idris Jala, head of the government’s Performance Management and Delivery Unit, said in an interview on Monday. Prime Minister Najib Razak introduced a dual-language program during his budget speech last week, and the New Straits Times said Thursday the government will organize English communication lessons at no charge from next year.

The poll highlights the challenges for Malaysia even as the World Bank’s annual Doing Business report showed the country is making progress on becoming more investor-friendly, having made it easier and less costly for companies to pay taxes.

“Malaysia has lost its competitiveness due to our standards in English going down,” AirAsia Bhd. co-founder Tony Fernandes wrote on Twitter this month. It’s a critical time "to reverse decades of decline in English,” he said. “Our children have suffered.”