Six issues in the Education Blueprint to address

There are several key issues in the recently released Malaysian Education Blueprint which the government must address, said the Centre for Public Policy Studies (CPPS).

CPPS director Ng Yeen Seen told Malaysiakini that while the Education Ministry set positive goals and objectives in the blueprint, they were many areas where the blueprint was left wanting.

She raised six points, which were:

1. English 

"The current two-year timeline to make English a must pass subject is not pragmatic," Ng said. "Many teachers are not proficient enough in English. The government plans on sending these teachers to further tuition but is that going to be enough?"

She said the government should look into recruiting new teachers with English proficiency as well as trying to re-train inadequate teachers, adding that English was not integrated into the community enough and students who couldn't afford tuition would be disadvantaged.

"Imagine if you are living in a remote community in Kelantan up near the Thai border, none of your family or friends speak English, no one in your community speaks English, only your teacher speaks English and you are not even sure if they speak English properly. How is it fair to make this a must pass?" she asked.

2. Orang Asli 

Ng said that while the ministry had outlined positive plans to promote inclusiveness and meet the needs of Orang Asli students, the policies were short on details.

"They need to elaborate, how will they be uplifted? There is no plan of action, no goals, nothing concrete at all," she noted.

3. Funding 

According to Ng, the current funding model where schools were funded equally regardless of the number of students didn’t encourage schools to excel and attract parents, and also failed to recognise the extra resources required by bigger schools for more students.

"That being said, emphasis needs to also be given to lower performing schools to lift them up, funding of resources, teachers, training. More needs to be done to acknowledge that some schools are underperforming, and require more help, as opposed to uniform funding across the board," she added.

4. Learning disabilities  

Ng said teachers need to be trained to detect students with learning disabilities and how to assist them and that there was not adequate training for this at the moment.

"Take dyslexia for example, the teacher doesn't know the student has it and neither does the parent, the teacher just thinks the student is dumb or isn't trying and punishes them. This needs to change," she added.     

5. Talented students 

The CPPS director also pointed out that there were not enough programmes to nurture and push the talented students to their full potential. 

"The government is always looking at the middle ground and forgetting the students on either end," she said.

6. Monitoring 

Finally, Ng said that a government or independent monitoring group needed to be established to access and track the implementation of the education blueprint.

"As always in Malaysia, there is good policy and then there is no one checking to see whether the implementation is being done or not," she stressed.