Malaysia’s Failing Education System!

A couple of months ago, a friend who was a secondary school English language teacher applied for optional retirement. (some are excerpts from an Aliran topic on the above subject). 

“Why? You still have many more good years to go.” “I had enough. There’s just too much paperwork,” the teacher replied. “And these days, it is all about the numbers…. Then … there is that other matter…. You know, the system!”

She, like many other ethnic minority civil servants, had reached her glass ceiling! There was absolutely no hope for her to climb the civil service ladder and carry on in a more dynamic role.

Source:https://www.wikiimpact.com

Everyone knows about these ‘unwritten’ policies, some of which may be orchestrated by ‘little Napoleons’ within the system, with personal racist agendas and who may be running the whole show. These ‘policies’ can be very discouraging and dismissive of dedicated teachers like her.

Then there is another teacher, a skilled English-language teacher with a doctorate in education and extensive teaching experience, who was just biding her time before opting out in a few years. As an ethnic minority teacher, she had been told she would never be appointed as school principal of any national school (unless it was a mission school) – because such roles are allegedly reserved for people of a particular ethnic group.

So, who writes these ‘unwritten’ policies?

With so many excellent teachers leaving the system and so many young people emigrating, something is amiss. But no one wants to bell the cat. Against this backdrop, the PM has asked Singapore for teachers to help arrest the declining standards in the English language in Malaysia - a national embarrassment! Are we now so deficient in proficient English language speakers at home that we must beg? Not only have we squandered our own English language edge over the last four decades, but we have also failed to optimise the resources we still have.

For a broader perspective, let’s examine the Singapore story. Both Singapore and Malaysia had the same starting point in 1965. These days, Singapore’s schools are recognised as some of world’s top performers, excelling in maths, science and literacy. When asked how they achieved this, their answer is simple – “a coherent curriculum delivered to every school by high-quality teachers.”

Our national schools were once the preferred schools, at least in my time – the 60s and 70s. In the past, private schools were regarded as the alternative for those who had failed to make the cut in the national school system. Today, however, national schools have evolved to be perceived as ‘inferior’ – the result of all the ‘good intentions’ of the policies of the New Economic Policy (NEP), initiated in the 1970s and later through its subsequent derivatives.

These policies, including that of ‘ketuanan Melayu’ (ethnic Malay supremacy), have far outrun their course. They have now, wilfully or not, affected the quality of our schools and our teachers. Our schools are the seedbed where we design the shape, the intensity, the tone and the pitch of the nation’s future.

Perhaps it is time for the MoE to go beyond the political shenanigans and the politicians’ rhetoric. The ministry needs to look at itself!

Schools should be learning organisations that inspire intellectual growth. They are certainly not the place to be educating teachers about their own disciplines.

So, are we surprised we have dropped out of the international Pisa rankings for maths, reading and science? Are we surprised when vernacular schools and international schools have become more popular?

The future is a disaster if you look at national schools. But more parents today struggle but send their children to private schools or the vernacular ones.  It is time our leaders realised that the competition is not from people of other ethnicities within Malaysia but from our Asean neighbours, who may soon leave us trailing far behind.

Want to be radical or reform the system? None of it will happen on current thinking of the leadership. But perhaps I will put it up anyway:

1. Have a full English track for national schools;

2. Revise intake of teachers to include other ethnicities and give them hope to be principals of schools like VI, RMC or MCKK;

3. Recruit the very best for training with better remuneration linked to performance;

4. Remove the religious slant in the education curricula (this is done separately and after school); and

5. Focus and set a curriculum that will address the future – AI, automation, and the cyber/digital eco-space.

If you can do the above, then MOE will excel, and PISA scores will move up dramatically. If not, we can still talk about moving-up the value chain for the next 30 years!

Reference:

What lies deep beneath Malaysia’s failing education system, Sukeshini Nair, Aliran, 20 August 2024