The new blueprint will be pointless if there is no political will to make improvements. The educationists and politicians know just as the rest of us what needs to be done but progress can only come with implementation. — Photo: CHAN TAK KONG/The Star
MALAYSIA’S sociopolitical landscape has many hot topics. Education stands out because it unites people.
Most Malaysians may be keyboard warriors when it comes to viral topics that pop up occasionally, but thanks to the internet and its endless sources of information, education is something we all have access to.
Considering the fact that Malaysians, especially the older generations like Gen-X, are products of the national schooling system, they are well positioned to comment on this issue. Their familiarity with the topic allows them to be more objective.
It is understandable then why the Education Ministry is seeking public feedback on the new National Education Blueprint which will be implemented after the present one (2013-2025) runs its course.
Malaysians, however, will be unsure if their ideas actually matter. That is because the gradual deterioration of the education system, despite the noble intentions of the current blueprint, does not inspire much confidence.
“In order to compete with the best in the world, our education system must develop young Malaysians who are knowledgeable, think critically and creatively, have leadership skills, and are able to communicate with the rest of the world,” says the Education Minister in the foreward of the blueprint.
Its broad objectives include understanding the current state of the Malaysian education system and its challenges, improving access to education, raising standards (quality), closing achievement gaps (equity), fostering unity among students, and maximising system efficiency.
It seeks to establish a clear vision and aspirations for individual students and the education system as a whole; and outline a comprehensive transformation programme for the system, including key changes to the ministry which will allow it to meet new demands and rising expectations, and to ignite and support overall civil service transformation.
Many multilateral agencies, both local and international, were consulted in penning the 2013-2025 blueprint.
The report also highlights the vast amount of resources that have been ploughed into the education system, noting that in 2011, the government had spent 3.8% of GDP or 16% of the federal budget on education, which was higher than the OECD average but also on par with what was being spent on education in Singapore, Japan and South Korea.
Large sums of money continue to be spent on education, with health the only other sector that requires hefty federal spending.
Has the money been well spent? Any largesse by the government should yield positive results, but alas, the opposite is happening.
It may be that the ministry considers the blueprint successful because it no longer sits at the bottom of the PISA pile, but to have been that low isn’t a cause for celebration.
The prime minister attributed such failures to a lack of acknowledgement of existing problems in the education system.
The dismal performance, echoed by the poor PISA scores, is manifested in how tiered the education system has become.
It is not an indictment of the existence of vernacular schools, but rather how international and private schools have flourished in that time of the 2013-2025 blueprint.
Education has diverged between the haves and have-nots, so the national schools are no longer the school of choice as they once were when the Gen-X were in school.
The new blueprint will be pointless if there is no political will to make improvements.
The educationists and politicians know just as the rest of us what needs to be done but progress can only come with implementation.
Schools should abandon the emphasis on having the most straight A students and instead ensure that students are taught the proper lessons. They should not become political pawns with non-academic motives infiltrating the schooling system.
Weed out the frivolous matters and equip the future generation with the right tools to compete in the world of artificial intelligence and declining population.
It will be a dereliction of duty on the part of educationists if they do not take heed of the situation and act on it.
What is going to be the objective now? Is there political will to change?
This article first appeared in Star Biz7 weekly edition.
