Putrajaya: “Making English a compulsory subject to pass in order to get a Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia certificate will be a move in the right direction,” Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday.

The former prime minister said mastering the language would not only better prepare Malaysian students for globalisation, but would give them an edge in securing jobs.

“Without a strong command of the language, it will be difficult for them to study abroad or secure good jobs as they would be required to be able to converse well in the language,” he said after being conferred the Honorary Doctorate of Humanity by the Limkokwing University of Creative Technology yesterday.

Dr Mahathir expected the proposal to be strongly opposed by those only interested in pushing political mileage and not improving the quality of education.

“These people are not interested in (our children’s) education or acquiring knowledge. All they want is to see how much support they can get.”

On the pending decision on the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English, Dr Mahathir said he would feel sorry for the younger generation if the government decided to revert to teaching the subjects in Bahasa Malaysia.