Abstract

This paper offers an analysis of the development and implementation of the policy to teach Science and Mathematics in English (PPSMI) in Malaysian primary schools, commencing in 2003, in the context of the 2009 reversal of the policy. The original study focused particularly on the impact of the policy on the children of the Federal Land Development Schemes (FELDA), arguably among the most economically disadvantaged groups in Malaysia, and with the least access to English Language. The analysis is set in the context of successive changes to the national language policy that followed, towards the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2025, and the aspiration for Malaysia to achieve a developed nation status to compete in the increasingly globalised world economy.