Malaysian officials to be sent for English speaking training

Senior civil servants who do not meet requirement set for English Proficiency Test should be sent for training, says chief executive officer of Malaysian Qualifications Agency Prof Dr Rujhan Mustafa.

He is of the view that the government should consider sending those who do not meet the requirement to attend few months of training for them to be able to play a better role in their tasks where they have years of experience. 

Dr Rujhan is one of the first batch of senior civil servants sitting for English Proficiency Test.

He told Sin Chew Daily: “We come from different background. Some graduated from universities in England and United States. Many are local graduates where the medium of instruction in university is Malay language and do not have a chance to be trained in English-speaking countries. 

Senior civil servants started to sit for English Proficiency Test on Saturday.

Dr Rujhan said personally, he welcomed Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s proposal of assessing the English proficiency of civil servants, especially those at senior level. 

Dr Mahathir announced earlier that senior civil servants are required to liaise with officers from foreign countries. Hence, they are to sit for English Proficiency Test. 

Chief Secretary Ali Hamsa made a surprise visit to National Institute of Public Administration as senior civil servants sat for English Proficiency Test.

He posted photographs of officers sitting for the test on Twitter. Among them are Transport Ministry Secretary-General Saripuddin Kasim, Youth and Sports Ministry Secretary-General Lokman Hakim Ali, Perlis state secretary Syed Omar Sharifuddin Syed Ikhsan and others. 

They are tested on communication skills including giving their reply after going through some reading materials.