The marginalization of the Chinese language was reflected by a sharp drop in enrolments.Between1959 and 1978, the propotion of pupils enrolled in Chinese primary schools plummeted from 46 percent to 11 percent.In contrast, by the mid-1970s ,initiated by the government, English was gaining much more importance in all social fields : it was becoming the medium of government,the armed forces ,schools and homes.Politicians and education leaders placed emphasis on the fact that “English was merely the language which Singaporeans needed to cope with modern technology and commerce”. The restructuring of the Singapore ecomomy towards high-technology industries was gaining pace and one reason for the entry of foreign capital was identified as English proficiency