What about us, private colleges group asks Maszlee

More than half of the enrolment for post-secondary education are through the private tertiary institutions. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: A group representing 200 private schools and colleges today said the government was ignoring their contribution towards education, adding that there remained policies which hampered the growth of the private education sector in its aim to make Malaysia an international educational hub.

The National Association of Private Educational Institutions (Napei) also questioned Education Minister Maszlee Malik, saying his recent speech outlining the government’s education policies did not even mention the role of the private education sector.

“The private education sector has been supplementing and complementing the government in providing education for more than 80 years, since 1936,” Napei president Elajsolan Mohan said in a letter to FMT today.

He said the government had saved billions of dollars on education as more than half of tertiary education in the country is provided by private higher education institutions.

But he warned that the sector was on the decline, with many institutions facing losses due to a drop in student enrolment.

Elajsolan said among the factors of the drop in enrolment for private post-secondary education was the requirement of a pass for the Sejarah (history) subject, which deprived many Form 5 leavers from joining A-Level and diploma programmes.

“When the global focus is on science and technology and Industry 4.0, we are depriving our school leavers of the opportunity to continue on to post-secondary education and training and losing much-needed talent in the workforce,” he added.

Elajsolan also blamed “overzealous bureaucrats” for a drop in the number of foreign students in Malaysia, including a ruling barring them from working part-time.

Adding that there had been a 32% drop in foreign student intake last year, he said Malaysia should review existing policies and regulations, and cited major educational destinations such as Japan and Canada which have amended their immigration policies and regulations to attract international students.

“We will not be able to reach the target of 200,000 international students by 2020 and 250,000 students by 2025 if we are not serious in reviewing the existing policies and regulations,” he said. FMT