A little knowledge of English is still essential in some subjects

The fine-tuning of the medium of instruction policy for schools is still meeting opposition.

Those who are against this policy think it is not right to teach subjects like maths, physics, chemistry and biology in English when the teachers' or students' English standard is not up to par. This is correct, but what is wrong is the idea that if a school is allowed to use an English textbook then it should use 100 per cent English to teach these subjects in classes, because students should not be taught in mixed-code - the teacher mixing English with Chinese when teaching.

The best science and maths textbooks are in English. At present, unless the English standard of students in a school reaches a certain level they are not allowed to use English textbooks in these subjects. Some of the Chinese textbooks used in schools have no English scientific and mathematical terminology written in brackets after their Chinese equivalent. As a result Chinese-medium students have to learn the Chinese equivalent terms of, for example, sine, sodium chloride and coulomb, without learning the English terms. These Chinese terminologies are of little use as they are not used internationally. Trying to memorise them for exams puts extra and unnecessary pressure on Chinese-medium students. Not being exposed to English textbooks also places Chinese-medium students at a disadvantage when they get into universities to study these subjects.

Schools should be given the autonomy to choose their own textbooks. For schools whose students' English standards are not high, they should still be allowed to choose English science and mathematics textbooks which have Chinese translated versions.

The teacher will then have the option to use the appropriate amount of English in classes depending on the students' standard of English. This way, their understanding of the subject is not hampered, while at the same time they are exposed to some English.

The idea that mixed-code teaching is harmful to our students' learning of English is wrong. The real culprit of our students' low English standard lies in the fact that English is not taught in the right way in most of our kindergartens and primary schools.