Consider budgeting for an RCI on education, govt told

 

A 2022 report ranked Malaysia among the top five countries in the world with the largest declines in test scores involving reading, mathematics and science. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: 

An academic has called on Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s government to fund a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) or an independent study on the state of the nation’s education system from preschool right through to university.

Sharifah Munirah Alatas, chair of the Malaysian Academic Movement (Gerak), said the quality of the nation’s education has progressively declined despite the 

billions

 spent by the government.

“Without (an RCI), we will continue to grope in the dark about the quality of our schools and universities.

If this Anwar administration hopes to be recognised one day in history as the administration that turned the nation around, it must consider budgeting for an RCI as soon as possible,

 she said.

In Budget 2023, the government allocated RM55.2 billion for education, compared to RM52.6 billion in 2022, and RM50.4 billion in 2021.

However, the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment report reveals that Malaysia ranks among the top five countries in the world with the largest declines in test scores across all three core subjects: reading, mathematics and science.

Munirah also suggested that universities, NGOs and private sector stakeholders with an interest in education be given funding to run thorough and independent parallel studies.

All of these studies can then be collated to provide the current administration much-needed analyses of previous blueprints and roadmaps for the future of the education sector,

 she said.

Munirah said the goal of the RCI and the studies is to prescribe improvements and alternatives in both the short-term and long-term education cycles.

She also said there is a gap between the great strategic plans and blueprints Malaysia has devised and their implementation, due to political interference and the use of education as a tool to garner votes.

We must be clear about our ethics and what we do with hefty budgets. Only then can we observe gaps and compare ourselves with other education systems,

 she said.

Gerak secretary-general Rosli Mahat suggested that the government distribute its available budget more fairly across all education sectors, rather than merely focusing on public universities.

He said funds must be made available to the 

people who teach and do research

, rather than to 

buildings or universities

.

Rosli called for research grants to be handed out based on the quality of the research proposals submitted by academics rather than simply on the basis that their recipients come from research-based institutions. - FMT