Ku Li: Our education system dysfunctional

It is inconsistent with the goal of becoming a developed nation by 2020, says the former finance minister.

KUALA LUMPUR: The education system in Malaysia is dysfunctional and inconsistent with the country’s ambition to become a developed nation by 2020, former finance minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah said.

“No less than the World Bank in March 2014 underscored its anxiety at the low quality of Malaysia’s education system,” he added.

He was speaking at the National Association of Private Educational Institutions (Napei) Third International skills Conference here today.

Razaleigh, the Gua Musang MP, said that by international standards of comparison, the skill levels of Malaysia’s workforce “are unfortunately in the lower third of such rankings”.

He noted that the National Education Blueprint launched by the government aims to raise Malaysia to the top third of the international rankings by 2020.

“This is a courageous and important goal to achieve and presents considerable challenges to politicians, policy-makers and implementers alike.”

Razaleigh said this planned transformation of the Malaysian education system was long overdue.

“But one wonders whether we can achieve it at all, given the constraints not only on the pocketbooks but the available manpower resources. We face very many daunting tasks.”

He believes that Malaysia must go back to the most basic level – by focusing on the 3Rs.

No penmanship

“It is not uncommon to find Malaysian students in the Fourth Form… still struggling with their comprehension of language or mathematical problem solving due to their poor grounding in these skills.

“It goes without saying that there is almost no penmanship to speak of,” he said, adding that there is a place for 3Rs in the modern teaching methodology.

“These are the basic skills so essential to our children’s learning process.”

Razaleigh stressed that there must be a balance between the imparting of academic knowledge and equipping of skills for vocations.

“Apart from the basic subjects offered by secondary schools, vocational subjects must have their place in the education system.”

This would help to meet the demand by the various trades and industries for certificated master craftsmen, he said.

He also suggested that a mechanism be developed at the level of the Fourth Form, for example, to channel students into the academic or vocational stream.

This way, the opportunity to continue one’s education to university level must be made available to both streams.

“This should help to reduce the number of unemployable graduates.”

But the success of a skills-driven education system is the availability of teachers.

“This noble profession that once attracted the crème of the crop to its fold has lost much of its lustre.

“It would seem that job-seekers look to teaching as a last resort when there is no other choice in the employment market.

“This has somewhat affected their classroom performance as the pressure for securing a job overrides the need for performance out of love and dedication.”

Razaleigh said this situation must be arrested. “Teaching must be brought back to the pedestal it once occupied in this country.”

Political inteference

He said the service must be so packaged as to attract the best entrants to the job market.

He suggested that the entry qualification into the teaching service be at the level of a Master’s degree.

Razaleigh said the classroom size must also be improved, adding that the current size was not much better than what it was in the early days of independence to the early 1960s.

“We must improve the classroom size and the student-teacher ratio in our schools. It is a measure for developing high quality education.”

He also said rote learning where students regurgitate what has been learnt by heart would not help students to think through a problem.

“It is perhaps timely for us to think about introducing Logic and Thinking as a school subject.”

He also took a swipe at politicians who interfered in the education system. “Political interference should not be condoned,” he said.

“The danger in this meddling is the tendency for an issue to be politicised and degenerated into controversies.”