SHOCK! Malaysia's MOST PRIVILEGED students do worse than Singapore's most UNDER-PRIVILEGED

Education system in an alarming crisis when even the most privileged Malaysian students perform worse than the most under-privileged Singaporeans.

The crisis in the Malaysian education system was confirmed in the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results, released in early December last 2013.

Not only did our 15-year-old students fare far below average, placing 55th overall out of 65 participating countries, our average scores for all three categories (science, mathematics and reading) were worse compared to neighbouring countries such as Singapore, Thailand and even Vietnam.

Compounding the disappointing results in the latest PISA report is the fact that our students’ poor performance is not merely a one-off affair, but actually part of a steady downtrend that is evident not only in the last few PISA results but also reflected in the quadrennial Trends in International Maths and Science Study (TIMSS), which has shown a consistent drop in mathematics and science performances over the last decade.

However, in an attempt at consolation, certain quarters have suggested that while the average score of Malaysian students are poor, there are still some who have performed very well. The Director-General of Education Datuk Dr Khair Mohamad Yusof, for example, has been quoted as saying that a few of our schools are able to rival the best in the world.

The problem is therefore explained as a possible urban-rural divide, where better-equipped urban schools with better teachers and a more conducive learning environment are able to produce better results. While this is an obvious conclusion, the real question is, how good is our best?

When our best is not good enough

According to an analysis of the PISA results by international online news portal The Huffington Post, the breakdown of mathematics scores by socio-economic background reveals that, by and large, the assumption holds true: the richer the students, the better the results.

This is unsurprisingly evident in Malaysia, where there is a noticeable gap in performance between the richest 10 per cent of students and the rest of the field. After all, these students have access to better quality teachers, more modern school facilities, extra tuition classes and so on. They are also most likely privately educated or enrolled in elite boarding schools.

However, the real barometer is in the comparison with other countries. From the analysis, it is found that the average score of the elite, most privileged 10 per cent of students in Malaysia is in fact lower than the average score of the poorest, most under-privileged students from many Asian countries such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea and Macau (see Figure 1).

Figure 1: Regional Comparison of PISA Mathematics Scores by Socio-Economic Background

(Source: The Huffington Post)

Even more shockingly, it would appear that the top 10 per cent of Malaysian students are only marginally better than the bottom 20 per cent of students in Vietnam, a country with a GDP per capita that is more than six times smaller than that of ours.

In other words, it is not only the average Malaysian student who is badly performing, but even our richest, most privileged students are far behind their regional peers from the poorest, most under-privileged socio-economic backgrounds.

A bleak future

Malaysian students’ poor performance in mathematics is especially significant given the fact that proficiency in the subject is considered by the OECD to be “a strong predictor of positive outcomes for young adults, influencing their ability to participate in post-secondary education and their expected future earnings.” Elaborating further, the OECD’s Survey of Adult Skills finds that “poor mathematics skills severely limit people’s access to better-paying and more-rewarding jobs.”

This essentially means that the Malaysia is facing an alarming crisis in education, and one that will have a negative long-term impact on our economic development if not addressed. In this globalised and increasingly competitive world, failure to keep up will incapacitate Malaysia’s hopes of graduating into a knowledge-based economy and doom us to be forever stuck in the middle-income trap.

Zairil Khir Johari, Member of Parliament for Bukit Bendera