Is education in Malaysia facing a crisis? Is it too broken?
Such questions will elicit differing answers depending on where in the spectrum we are viewing the issue. In a country with strong racial bias, how do we navigate the issues on the table?
The challenges are many. If these are not addressed collectively on the basis of care, concern and compassion, then we will continue to have a top-down assessment.
But education is too important an issue to leave it only to politicians and bureaucrats.
Schools have become too polarised. Private schools mainly house the ethnic minorities while national schools cater mainly to the ethnic Malays and the low-income group. Then there are the ethnic-based vernacular schools, Mara schools, matriculation centres, international schools and Islamic religious schools.
How do all these institutions contribute to the national good? What is their role in creating a society that is cohesive? Surely, education is the best social tool to create a multi-ethnic environment.
But we have lost our way, becoming so polarised we have lost a sense of shared nationhood for everyone.
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The stakeholders are many. Each has a distinctive contribution to provide that would be invaluable to the national education blueprint.
The first step is to hold collective discussions and get feedback from parents, teachers, administrators and students.
Yes, we need decentralisation of education. You can say we also need democratisation in education. But does this mean we sacrifice diversity, competition and meritocracy, and focus only on the lowest common factor?
We do have objective data, but this is often questioned by the parties involved, who become defensive. With possibly around 500,000 working in education in Malaysia, servicing at least 10,000 schools, education remains a high budget area.
The Budget allocates RM82.1bn for the education and higher education ministries. We need greater clarity over where and how this is spent. Accessibility to the budget provisions is often ethnically charged and unfair.
Change must be the order of the day for a government that speaks about “Malaysia Madani” (a civil and compassionate Malaysia). Is this going to be a mere slogan parroted by civil servants and highlighted at the end of all their written communications with the public? Or is it going to make a difference?
How is the government to create a civilised, skilled and inclusive society based on the core values of sustainability, prosperity, innovation, respect, trust and compassion? Against what standards is it going to evaluate its progress? Can it achieve this through a top-down approach or by being inclusive and representative?
This calls for change – and change must be evaluated not by the words expressed or reports submitted but by commitment and actions that reveal sincerity.
If there is one area that will contribute greatly and make a difference to the realisation of the Madani priorities, it is education.
Different sectors will have their own views about the international Pisa assessments. These tests, run by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), have revealed some astonishing data.
In the latest report, Malaysia continues to fall in its ranking, its scores dropping in all three areas evaluated – maths, science and reading. Its ranking places it below Brunei, Vietnam and Singapore.
While both Vietnam and Cambodia have improved, Malaysia’s scores have fallen by three times. This despite Malaysia spending more through its annual budget than these other nations.
Consider Sharia-compliant Brunei, which has English as its medium of instruction. Have they become less Islamic as a result? Language is a medium of communication, and when politics manipulates this as an identity issue, then it becomes another source of conflict.
A real gap exists between the written reports furnished and the actual state of affairs on the ground. Visit Tamil vernacular schools and Malay schools in the interior and evaluate their conditions. Why has the budget allocation for education not reached them?
The government has gone ahead and abolished the UPSR (Year 6) and PMR (Year 9) exams and converted them into school assessments. Many have lost confidence in these internal school evaluations. Others fear meritocracy.
Students come with different capacities and abilities, and they must be graded accordingly on an earned basis. The dropping of exams was done in a hurry and, as one former education minister lamented, an adequate ecosystem stressing quality was not put in place.
It is a fact that many parents with the means have opted out of the national education system and chosen either Chinese or Tamil vernacular schools or private international schools. Even enrolment by Malay students in Chinese vernacular schools has risen to 18% by 2024. What does this data indicate?
People recognise quality when they see it. All this emphasises the point that we need an objective analysis of the challenges facing national schools and the measures needed for these schools to once again become schools of choice.
Not all students are meant to become doctors or engineers. But whatever their chosen field, they need to be competent. For this, an independent evaluation system is critical, more so in a nation so ethnically polarised.
Those who have suffered most from the government’s flip-flop policies have been children from low-income families. Those who do not have the capacity or opportunity to enter pre-school face an even greater hurdle when they join the national school system. They have much to catch up with their peers.
What do you say about a university that produces over 632 PhD graduates at its convocation ceremony? Is this an attempt to boost self-esteem? We now have so many universities. Yet, the nation does not have an overall examining body like a grants commission that regularly evaluates the competency of these institutions of higher learning.
The Pisa report highlights that 16% of the curriculum hours at school covers religious studies, compared to 12% for maths and 7% each for science and arts.
Are we producing students who are competent enough in Stem subjects like science, technology, engineering and maths? What about technical and vocational education and training? How are we going to become a nation that innovates if we do not develop these talents?
Religion is not the sole responsibility of the state and its education system. To take away parental responsibility is to also acknowledge that parents do not have the capacity to impart this knowledge to their children. What should bring families together is increasingly becoming a state responsibility.
While Malay students attend their religious classes, ethnic minority students attend moral classes. This presents a serious imbalance, which needs to be corrected. Thankfully, several NGOs are helping to support students from low-income households.
One territory paving the way for change is Sarawak. It is amazing what the Malaysia Agreement 1963 has done in granting it the opportunity to put in place policies that are in keeping with the agreement. It is sad that Umno-Barisan Nasional politicians once used their two-thirds federal majority to bully these territories.
Teachers’ qualifications have been another challenge. Yes, the focus has to be on the teaching and learning process – inclusive of time to correct books and to do things that have the child’s interest at hand. Administrative work, on the other hand, has to be a matter of filling out standard forms. All this, if well planned, can be managed.
Teachers’ discipline is another factor, and this has all to do with school leadership. If the principal is held to account, then teachers’ discipline can be improved.
Also, consider the number of principals from ethnic minority communities – you cannot be racist in this context, and the statistics themselves describe the state of affairs.
The civil service needs open minds. There are too many “little Napoleons” and bureaucrats who sit behind their departmental rules and bully the people. Their departmental rules seem more sacred to them than the clauses in the Constitution. These rules, seemingly created with a motive to control people, are often not made with any consultation with the stakeholders involved.
Perhaps there are too many of such civil servants. Are they creating such rules to keep staff employed? It almost seems like an “arahan-dari-atas” (directive-from-above) syndrome!
To challenge these departmental rules, you may have to go to court to establish that they are ultra vires (run counter to) the freedoms enshrined in the Constitution. But how many are in a position to expend time and money to stand for what is right? That is why, like Sarawak, we need an ombudsman.
Why do the minority communities leave or shun the civil service, army and police? One reason is the perception of a reduced possibility of promotion. There appears to be no objective basis, and ethnic bias comes into play. Otherwise, how do you explain the glaring ethnic disparities?
Malaysia Madani gives us an opportunity. Whether it remains a mere slogan or can be translated to genuine education reform through more enlightened policies and action remains to be seen. Perhaps the 2025 education blueprint will provide a promising beginning.
K Haridas
Co-editor, Aliran newsletter
11 November 2024
Sources: CNA report on education
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Mr Das, fully aware you measured in response. Truth, untold damaged has been done. On personal note during conversian era 70s , lost opportunities are just bygones. That group still denied justice. There is ethnic Agenda instead of missing knowledge and motive to progress