Is The Quality of Education System of Concern?

A former vice-chancellor of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) has questioned whether the 2022 SPM examination results released recently reflects the actual quality of the nation’s education system. The 2022 SPM results showed an improvement in the country’s education.

At the higher education level, public universities such as UKM, Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), and Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) all fared well in the Quacquarelli Symonds’ (QS) World University Rankings. 

But Malaysia was lagging behind in the context of global competitiveness. In the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) World Competitiveness Ranking, the quality of Malaysian talent has been declining every year. In 2013, Malaysia was ranked among the top 14 in the world. However, in the latest ranking, it has dropped to 36. 

Source: https://www.wikiimpact.com

In early 2023, the statistics department stated that 170,000 primary school students lacked proficiency in reading. In May 2023, the education ministry reported that nearly 50% (180,680 students) of the 2021 SPM graduates were not interested in pursuing further studies. The extreme lack of interest in pursuing further studies is even more concerning because currently, only 28% of Malaysia’s workforce consists of skilled workers. This is significantly lower compared with the average of several developed countries, which is around 53%.

We are in a comfort zone on education. Every year we bask in the “glory” of better SPM results. The reality is different. Ask the parents, the employers or the lecturers in universities, especially the foreign ones. If you don’t acknowledge there is a problem, then how can you fix it? Education has a myriad of issues – curriculum, teacher quality, students’ interests, numerous pathways-national, private, vernacular, home schooling, tahfiz and everything in between. We don’t seem to know what we want – it is like going to a fusion restaurant and hoping for a miracle of sorts! The nationalists want only one pathway – the national schools, period. The vernacular groups want their language stream; the private schools “dish-out” the curriculum from their country of origin and that too at a price one may not be able to afford; the Islamists are proud of their religious schools of many shapes and sizes. What a potpourri of colour and spice!

I have said this before and I will say it again unapologetically, there are three ingredients required – languages (more than 2), mathematics (including IT and coding) and the sciences. If you want to be a developed nation, then the curriculum has to revolve around these three ingredients. If not, we will always remain a “potential” developed nation!

Reference:

Quality of education system is a concern, says former UKM VC, FMT reporters, FMT, 9 June 2023