By Clarissa Oon

THE Education Ministry remains optimistic about the future of the Chinese language in Singapore, and will continue to help students go as far as they can in the language, stressed Senior Minister of State for Education Grace Fu yesterday.

At the same time, she urged Singaporeans to treat the Chinese language like any other subject, and accept that students have different levels of ability in it.

Ms Fu was responding to opposition MP Low Thia Khiang (Hougang), who expressed a longstanding concern of the Chinese community that Singaporeans' proficiency in the language is declining.

In particular, he singled out the Chinese Language 'B' syllabus for eroding standards. The syllabus was introduced nine years ago and is tailored for those exceptionally weak in the language.

With the limited scope of this curriculum, would these students 'seriously be able to retain the language after they leave school and continue to be able to learn through reading or speaking', Mr Low wondered.

Replying, Ms Fu said this syllabus is not representative of how the majority of students are taught, as CL 'B' students comprise at most 4 per cent of each cohort.

The objective of the syllabus 'is not to discourage them (by setting) a very high bar'. Instead, it aims to give students enough of the language to use it later on a functional basis, such as in conversing with colleagues in the workplace.

Noting that Singapore already has a good Chinese language environment, including a strong Chinese language media, Ms Fu said there would be many opportunities for all students to keep up their proficiency after leaving school.

'We are optimistic about how we can improve the standard of Chinese, but at the same time we have to be realistic.

'The Chinese community has compared the standard 10 years ago to the standard today, but I think the environment has changed a great deal since then,' she said.

Thirty years ago, Singapore still had Chinese-medium schools where most of the subjects were taught in Chinese, but due to dwindling enrolment, they were phased out by the mid-1980s.

Ms Fu, one of the most bilingual members of the House, had herself received a Chinese-medium education up until Secondary 3. She recalled that in science class, she had to memorise elements of the periodic table in Chinese, like 'jia' for potassium and 'mei' for magnesium.

'Is it wise for us to revert to that system again? I don't think so. You should put the test to parents, whether they want to teach their children science in Mandarin,' she said.

Such a system gives students an excellent grasp of Chinese, but the trade-off would be a weaker command of English.

'I think that we have gone past that stage and there is no point reminiscing about the past,' she said firmly.

'What we really want is to focus on what we have today. We have students who are grounded in English, and hopefully, well grounded in Chinese as well.'

Mandarin and Chinese dialects were once widely spoken at home among ethnic Chinese families, but today, six in 10 Primary 1 students come from English-speaking homes.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.