Education Minister and Umno Youth chief Hishammuddin Hussein today refused to drawn into a public debate with his counterpart in PAS over the issue of teaching Science and Mathematics in English.

He also said that the issue on the language to be used to teach the two subjects is yet to be finalised by his ministry.

"The ministry is still reviewing the policy and we are taking feedback from more people," he told reporters this morning.

Hishammuddin said that a debate was unnecessary as the language policy was still under a review process.

"If PAS wants to contribute, they can give us their suggestions," he said.

On Tuesday PAS Youth chief Salahuddin Ayub challenged Hishammuddin for the debate on the issue.

He also proposed that the debate be telecast live so that the people can judge for themselves the issues at hand and gave Hishammuddin seven days to respond to the invitation.

The language chosen for teaching the two subjects has been a thorny issue for the government and the education ministry which Hishammuddin heads.

Malay nationalist movements and others like PAS want the subjects to be taught in Bahasa Malaysia.

Likewise, Chinese and Tamil education groups want the subjects to be taught in the mother-tongue.

The ministry is to decide soon as to whether it will maintain the policy or revert to teaching the subjects in Bahasa Malaysia and mother-tongue languages.