Can speak English or not?

According to a recent Star report, teachers who don't pass an English proficiency test might have to go back to school to brush up their English. My question is - what were they doing teaching Science and Math in English in the first place?

I would have thought that English proficiency would be one of the subjects in which ALL teachers are tested for in teacher training school, not just those who are supposed to be teaching Science and Math in English. For these teachers, shouldn't the bar have been set much higher? Shouldn't they have been better trained to begin with?

It probably has to do with the hurried nature in which this policy was implemented. The then political masters (under Dr. M) wanted to push through this policy in a hurry without first putting in the measures (such as adequate teacher training) to ensure that there was sufficient qualified personnel to teach both of these classes in English. Now, 4 years into this new policy, it's time to play catch up after complaints from all sides:

The teaching of the two subjects in English was introduced in Year One, Form One and Lower Six in 2003. Since then, many parents have voiced concerns over the quality of teaching, including in the media. Their children, they said, were unable to follow the lessons properly as the teachers were less than proficient in English.

I guess this is better than doing nothing about the whole situation and letting those kids who have poor teachers suffer. But again, this shows the seriousness of trying to implement a policy without putting in place the necessary infrastructure to support these policies.

I wonder if the Ministry will place public the % of teachers who have to go through an English 'refresher' course after failing this exam?