Prejudices of maths teachers

The prejudices of teachers, Mr Isnen warns, have wide repercussions: 'They assume Malay pupils are weak, treat them negatively, and worse, make them lose their confidence.

'They get demoralised and think they are indeed weak, and they begin to hate maths, with the resulting weakness being perpetuated.'

When students buy into this assumption, they are quicker to throw up their hands in despair when confronted with a difficult maths problem rather than keep working at it.

To its credit, Mendaki has held workshops to demonstrate to pupils and parents how maths problems can be overcome, and taught parents how to get their children interested in maths. Nationally, efforts are also under way to enrol all pupils in pre-school. But as with any educational measure, the results of these steps will take time to manifest themselves.

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