AN end to the long-standing teacher shortage problem is on the horizon.
Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek is hopeful that the 18,000 vacant positions will be filled after receiving over 260,000 applications. Selected candidates will be absorbed under a one-off special recruitment by the Education Service Commission (SPP).
“We just called for applications and the response from all over the country has been overwhelming,” she said, adding that the ministry has been in serious engagement with the SPP to address the issue.
“I had a very fruitful discussion with the SPP recently and there’s been tremendous effort on both sides.
“I hope to share some good news with our teachers on Tuesday,” she said, adding that moving forward, there needs to be better projection when it comes to training future talents.
Sarawak, Kuala Lumpur and Johor are the top three states with the highest shortage, with Islamic Studies, English and Bahasa Melayu subjects in critical need of teachers, she noted.
“I have one simple ambition –when others talk about Malaysia, I want them to talk about the good manners of our people and how respectful we are as a culture.
“This is a reflection of our teachers who, in turn, is a mirror of our citizens,” she said.
In achieving this, the petite mother of six is passionate about instilling the pillars of the Madani concept: sustainability, prosperity, innovation, respect, trust and compassion.
“We were all raised with different values but there are some universal principles that we can share, regardless of whether we are Christian, Hindu, Buddhist or Muslim, to make us good citizens.
“I would love for our children and teachers to embrace the pillars of Madani. Let’s start with compassion, the most basic and important value of all.”
Read on for what Fadhlina has to say about her values, her role in the hot seat and what the ministry is doing to advance our education system.
> You are the country’s first woman to lead the Education Ministry. What have you brought to the role?
It’s quite overwhelming being labelled the first but once you get into office, it’s not about the gender. It’s about being a responsible and competent minister for the whole nation.
I’ve been an advocate for women’s and children’s rights for over 20 years and I fought hard for Selangor to amend the minimum age for Muslim marriage from 16 to 18.
While I don’t have experience as a teacher nor a background in education, my experience as an activist and a Shariah lawyer has helped me be more decisive and empathetic in this role.
Four of my children are still in the mainstream education system so I have an internal audit at home. I am very protective of not only my own children, but all who come under the ministry.
> Your father, the late scholar Datuk Dr Siddiq Fadzil, was well respected. What was the most important lesson he imparted to you?
He was a role model for everyone who knew him. He raised my siblings and me in a culture of knowledge. Books were everywhere in our house.
My father and I used to go to an annual international book fair together, and he would still pay for my books even though I was already a lawyer and a mother at the time.
Debates were also a culture at home. Every morning at breakfast, we would all have our books and readings ready, and engage in a three-minute debate. So, I was trained to have a critical mind at a very young age.
We led a very moderate and humble lifestyle, and my father would always remind me to live my life to the fullest as a functional human being.
To him, to serve humankind was to serve God. At the start of every school session – right up until university – he would hold my hand and introduce me to my teachers, lecturers and dean and say, “This is my daughter, please make sure she becomes somebody someday and who brings benefit to humankind.”
> What are your personal key performance indicators (KPIs) for the ministry, and how would you rate your performance?
Let the rakyat judge me. When I was appointed (in December last year), the ministry was faced with many post-Covid-19 issues, but I knew what I wanted and I worked very hard to get it done.
My personal KPIs are similar to the ministry’s, which include making sure that complaints are addressed, teacher workload and well-being concerns are resolved, good quality education is accessible, and multidimensional poverty, which includes malnutrition, as well as a lack of digital devices and a conducive space to study and do homework at home, is reduced.
This “lost generation” was deprived not only of academic and digital learning because of poverty, but they had also lost two years of character building. Inculcating karamah insaniah (human dignity) is something I am very passionate about because it means our children will grow up strong in character. To do all this, we need a multi-solution and everybody must be on board.
> Middle-income families are sending their children to private schools, with netizens claiming that the standard of our education system has dropped. What is your view on this?
Private or national school – it’s their choice. Parents want what’s best for their children. National schools have never been inferior to private schools.
We are mainstream education. We have to be there even though there are options available. What we are trying to do is to give the best to our children in terms of facilities and teachers. We never compromise on the quality of our teachers.
We have the best and most well-trained teachers in Malaysia. No question about it. Our Institutes of Teacher Education are very strong training centres so we have a “ready stock” of teachers.
> There have been complaints that the Level One (Years One, Two and Three) Bahasa Melayu and Mathematics curriculum is too difficult and of a standard that is too high for primary school pupils. Are there plans to do away with any subjects?
We will never compromise on the quality and standard of the curriculum, and the performance of our children.
Some people say “how can the minister claim that we are of the same standard as China, Japan, Norway and Finland?”, but it is true that there are certain standards which we have qualified for.
We stand by that because we knew what we wanted to achieve that we worked on it. We cannot keep changing the curriculum cycle whenever a new minister comes in. I don’t want to treat our children like lab rats – it would be too tough and unfair on them.
We must let the pupils finish the cycle to evaluate its success. Then, we will look into all the complaints. We have experts in the ministry who look at the merits of the feedback and are in constant engagement with stakeholders.
> What is the ministry doing to tackle the dropout problem?
School dropouts are a serious matter but we need the community’s support in addressing this problem. Our definition of “dropout” is a student who suddenly stops attending school.
But some non-governmental organisations consider learning poverty, for example where students at a certain level have not mastered the skill expected of them, a form of dropping out.
There are also students who don’t go to school and are working instead. These are post-pandemic issues we have to address.
We’ve introduced the Sekolah Model Khas Komprehensif (K9) for Year One to Form Three students, and K11 for Year One to Form Five students.
We keep these students in the same school from a young age so that we can focus on them. We need special programmes like K9 and K11 for vulnerable children, especially the Orang Asli, as they are at risk of malnutrition, and lack of access to education and how they cope with the world.
We also have the Ziarah Cakna programme where our teachers go house to house to speak to the parents. It worries me that they don’t want to open up their doors. We want to see the children and take them to school.
We want to know if the parents are having problems sending them to school. My teachers are unsung heroes.
Some drive 100km daily just to make sure the children learn. They will do anything for the kids. But thats our commitment – to make sure our children get a good education.
