Parents are not ignorant or prejudiced

As a past pupil of one of the schools which have been denied the right to use English as medium of teaching, I am angry at the decision of the Education Department, not only because I resent the treatment given to my alma mater, but also because the decision has been reached without parents having been adequately consulted.

I have a son studying at the same school, which has a long tradition of academic excellence.

I would like the Education Department to note that parents are not ignorant or prejudiced; they know exactly what they are looking for and choose schools wisely, whenever a choice is available.

To put it simply, most of us parents expect our sons and daughters to be fluent and literate in English and we know from experience that this cannot be achieved by just one or two hours of instruction per day: hence our preference for schools that extend their students' exposure to English through using it as the medium of teaching for all subjects. Unfortunately our antiquated education system has not measured up to this expectation and we, as lecturers, employers and business executives, know that the standard of English in the schools has been declining for years.

Instead of admitting failure, our Government has chosen to blame it on the preference for English as the medium of teaching in secondary schools.

Instead of introducing more responsive teaching methods and upgrading teacher training, it has chosen to impose teaching in the 'mother tongue' as panacea to cure the disease that is destroying our children's proficiency in English.