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Education The Sacred Torch

A Poem
by Allan CF Goh

Education starts from birth’s yell
To teach the young survival skill
Stories that all parents will tell
Enhance the infants’ growing trill
It is found in the lilting song
Or the constant loves that surround
Or the voices heard all day long
As well as all the things around.

School and ‘formal education’
To many are one and the same
That’s a narrow definition
That strives to bring the child to fame
School should be a knowledge centre
To fund children’s curiosity
Allow good values to enter
With proper generosity Continue reading “Education The Sacred Torch”

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We are all gay…

By Azrul Mohd Khalib | September 18, 2012
The Malaysian Insider

SEPT 18 — Let’s see.

I often wear fitted, V-necked T-shirts. I can’t lay claim to having a muscular body but I am working out at the gym and lifting weights so that’s a work in progress. I did have to fight it out with a girl over a really nice bag this one time.

Ergo according to the Ministry of Education-endorsed (yes, despite their denials) guidelines/awareness material, I must be gay.

This latest move by the Yayasan Guru Malaysia Bhd (Teachers’ Foundation of Malaysia) and the Putrajaya Consultative Council of Parents and Teachers Associations is quite simply steeped in ignorance, bigotry and clearly homophobic.

Lest we forget, back in April this year, the Jaringan Melayu Malaysia (JMM) had announced a nationwide campaign to 30 schools to campaign against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender minorities utilising an awareness module targetting students. They misused their positions as parent-teacher association members to gain access to schools for this purpose.
Continue reading “We are all gay…”

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Two popular request ignored in the Education Blueprint 2013-2025

– Toh Boo Huat
The Malaysian Insider
Sep 17, 2012

SEPT 17 – The just released Education Blueprint was touted to be very comprehensive as it took into account the views and desires of Malaysians who were given opportunities to provide input during dialogues held in major towns across the country.

However, if the responses and loud cheers from large section of the crowd during the dialogues are any indication of popular support and demands by the people, then two such requests are missing in the blueprint i.e. calls for Science and Mathematics be taught in English and, for a non-politician Education Minister.

In my humble opinion, the blueprint ought to address the desire of many ordinary folks who would like their children to learn Science and Mathematics in its lingua franca i.e. English while fully supporting maintaining MBMMBI policy for those who want it. Interestingly, the rich who can afford to attend International schools and those Mara sponsored students are enjoying this privilege that is gradually being denied to those attending national schools. Continue reading “Two popular request ignored in the Education Blueprint 2013-2025”

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The Havoc Education Reform Inflicts: Education Blueprint 2013-2025

by Bakri Musa
17th September 2012

First of Five Parts: Education Blueprint – Transparent, But Not Bold Or Comprehensive

Education reform is inflicted upon Malaysians with the regularity of the monsoon. Like the storm, the havoc these “reforms” create lingers long after they have passed through.

In this five-part commentary I will critique the latest reform effort contained in Preliminary Report: Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 released on September 11, 2012. The first three essays will address the Blueprint’s findings and recommendations; the fourth, its omissions, and the last, the flaws in the process with this particular reform effort.

The Blueprint clearly identifies the main problems and challenges at both the system and individual levels, but fails to analyze why or how they came about and why they have been let to fester. Consequently the recommendations are based more on conjecture rather than solid data; more towards generalities and the stating of goals rather than on specifics and how to achieve those goals. On the positive side, the goals and milestones (at least some of them) are clearly stated in quantifiable terms, so we would know whether they have been achieved going forward.

Despite extensive public participation and the inclusion of many luminaries (including foreign ones) on the panel, the report has many glaring omissions. It fails to address the particular challenges facing Islamic and rural national schools. This is surprising considering that the constituents in both streams are Malays, a politically powerful group. Even more pertinent, those schools regularly perform at the bottom quartile; they drag down the whole system. Improving them would go a long way in enhancing the entire system. Yet another omission is the failure to analyze and thus learn from earlier reform efforts.

This Blueprint does not live up to Najib Razak’s assertion of being “bold, comprehensive and transparent.” Transparent perhaps, but not bold or comprehensive! That is not surprising as the panel is dominated by civil servants. They have been part of the problem for so long that it would be too much to expect them now to magically be part of the solution. Continue reading “The Havoc Education Reform Inflicts: Education Blueprint 2013-2025”

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Suggestions for the new education blueprint

— Justin Santiago
Sep 13, 2012

SEPT 13 — Forget about trying to pretend to have an education blueprint that only seems to take baby steps to improve the level of education in the country.

Here are some sure-fire steps to improve the quality of education in the country by leaps and bounds without needing any blueprint.

Make it mandatory for all children of MPs, state assemblymen, Cabinet ministers all the way up to the prime minister to attend primary, secondary and tertiary education institutions in the country. This is a sure-fire way to improve the quality of education throughout the country.

If the politicians and government who are talking big about how high the standard of education in the country is, then their own children should benefit by it. Much like how government officials were forced to use Proton Perdanas, now is the time to force quality education down everyone’s throat

In a single swoop throughout the country standards will improve when the children of government officials participate as part of the transformation process. Those wanting their children to study at “prestigious universities” overseas will be forced to resign. Continue reading “Suggestions for the new education blueprint”

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New National Education Blueprint 2013-2025 leaves many crucial policy questions unanswered

The Preliminary Report of the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 was launched with much fanfare on Tuesday. This document, written by expensive consultants at taxpayers’ expense, although seemingly comprehensive, in actual fact still leaves many crucial policy questions unanswered.

If these gaping holes are not addressed, this blueprint will suffer the same fate as all the other education blueprints that have been launched by previous Prime Ministers and Education Ministers.

Firstly, this blueprint does not contain any indication that the Ministry of Education has learnt from mistakes in the past.

Many of the initiatives announced under this new Blueprint are recycled ideas and past unfulfilled promises. For example, the Education Development Master Plan (Pelan Induk Pembangunan Pendidikan) 2006 to 2010 promised that any existing education gaps would be closed by continuing to provide necessary basic infrastructure necessities on a continuous basis.
Continue reading “New National Education Blueprint 2013-2025 leaves many crucial policy questions unanswered”

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Shortcomings of the 2013-2025 National Education Blueprint

— Hussaini Abdul Karim
The Malaysian Insider
Sep 12, 2012

SEPT 12 — I laud both the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Razak and the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who is also the Minister for Education for their motivation, tireless efforts and initiatives to come up with a better education policy to replace the current very much attacked policy which is construed as being a weak one and also the people in MOE who have been working very hard since April this year firstly, to organise the National Education Dialogue that took the team led by former Education Director General Tan Sri Datuk Dr Wan Mohd Zahid bin Wan Mohd Noordin, the National Education Dialogue Panel Chairman to 16 locations throughout the country including Sabah and Sarawak to conduct the Townhall Series of the National Education Dialogue and to prepare the impressive and attractive Preliminary Report – Malaysia Education Blueprint 2103- 2025 in both Bahasa Malaysia and in English which we all, who were present at the launch, were presented a copy each.

The first impression I get of the launch of the Malaysia National Education Blueprint 2013 – 2025 is the seriousness given by the government to education due to the fact that both the PM and the DPM were present at the event and the ‘off-the-cuff’ statement made by the former who is also the Minister of Finance is that he expects the expenditure for education in this country given the new plans, policies, syllabus and systems to be put in place and implemented as stated in the blueprint will be much higher than previous years and as the minister in charge, he will approve it.

This was followed immediately by a loud applause from all present. The PM also made another ‘off-the-cuff’ statement commenting on his pet subject, English literature, which will be introduced from next year and given the situation now, he said, “If you can’t teach them Shakespeare, the full version, try the abridged version first and if that is also too difficult then, start with the books by Enid Blyton”. This was also followed by a loud applause from the audience.

It is most pleasing to note the emphasis the Prime Minister placed on English language knowing that this is the right way for our people to progress. He had earlier reminded the people, in no uncertain terms, to always use and uphold Bahasa Malaysia as this is our national language.

There are many aspects in the blueprint which are commendable but nothing is new, it is more like something old that are sent back to the people in new package. Continue reading “Shortcomings of the 2013-2025 National Education Blueprint”

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National Education Blueprint needs more work

— Ramon Navaratnam
The Malaysian Insider
Sep 12, 2012

SEPT 12 — The ASLI-Centre for Public Policy Studies (CPPS) welcomes the release of the Preliminary Report, Malaysian Education Blueprint (2013-2025) as timely and necessary for preparing the future intellectual and social and human capital of Malaysia, in a globalised world.

We recognise that there has been lot of hard work and effort in drawing public opinion and in the compilation of this report. We therefore congratulate this participatory effort especially through the town hall meetings for feedback as well as the academic and professional evaluative work.

We also recognise that the five system aspirations (page E-9) and the 11 shifts (page E 10) to transform the educational system are necessary and strategic.

However, we note that there are also major and serious gaps in the report and therefore urge the Ministry of Education to undertake further consultative processes to review the findings and plans and to actually incorporate public views that are now overlooked. Continue reading “National Education Blueprint needs more work”

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Past 13 years, three Education Ministers have each produced Education Blueprint but Malaysian education standards have gone from bad to worse

When launching the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 yesterday, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the government is not in denial over Malaysian students’ poor ratings in international assessments and vowed to move our students from the bottom one-third to the top one-third of the world.

Najib doth protest too much as his claim that the government is not in denial can easily rebutted, and I will give two instances:

Firstly, the ludicrous claim by the Deputy Prime Minister cum Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin early this year that the Malaysian education system is one of the best in the world and that Malaysian youngsters are receiving better education than children in the United States, Britain and Germany.

Secondly, the government’s refusal and denial for almost four years to admit Malaysia’s disastrous showing in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2007, the four-yearly international comparative assessment of the achievements and attitudes towards mathematics and science of Year 4 and Year 8 secondary students, and ascertain the causes to immediately arrest and reverse such decline. Continue reading “Past 13 years, three Education Ministers have each produced Education Blueprint but Malaysian education standards have gone from bad to worse”

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PAGE responds to NST interview with Deputy Prime Minister/Education Minister

By Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim, PAGE Chairman | September 10, 2012
The Malaysian Insider

Sept 10 — We read with interest NST’s Sunday Interview with the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) “Improving quality in all areas of education” (9 Sep 2012) in particular the response given to the question on the teaching and learning of science and mathematics in English (PPSMI).

It appears that the DPM is more afraid that his ministry is seen as flip-flopping on the policy than its impact on our children and their future.

Although PAGE had representatives in most state dialogue sessions there were also even more supporters of the policy who are in favour of it to continue as an option, to be exact 250,000 online.

No doubt English proficiency is important, learning the scientific and mathematical knowledge, in its lingua franca which is English, our second language, should be capitalised on and not discouraged, a basic management strategy.

By abolishing the policy, the DPM is preventing many of our children from learning the knowledge in a language they are most comfortable with, a belief UNESCO has always advocated.
Continue reading “PAGE responds to NST interview with Deputy Prime Minister/Education Minister”

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Another education ‘plan’?

Rom Nain
Malaysiakini
Aug 24, 2012

Tucked away on the inside pages of the Malaysian mainstream newspapers, far from the celebratory, feel-good stories of Hari Raya celebration, Umno politicians’ ‘open houses’ – largely paid for by us sucker taxpayers, I’m sure – and generally stories of gluttony and good cheer, was a report on the launch of yet another regime ‘plan’ or ‘blueprint’.

You may be forgiven for having missed this. After all, apart from being distracted by the Eid celebrations, by now many of us surely must be facing ‘transformation fatigue’ or ‘blueprint exhaustion’ after almost four years of clichés about change yet being really offered much of a muchness, more of the same.

But, nonetheless, what’s this latest lark, err plan?

Well, it’s the ‘education blueprint’, a purportedly massive – not to mention ambitious and, certainly potentially mucho expensive – undertaking to transform (S..t! There’s that darn word again) the Malaysian education system over the next 13 years. Continue reading “Another education ‘plan’?”

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MCA’s Record on Education: Shameful and Pathetic

Koon Yew Yin
The Malaysian Insider
21st August 2012

Various thoughts come to my mind on reading the report that the Selangor MCA will build more Chinese schools if Barisan Nasional regains the state at the coming election. According to the Selangor MCA chairman, Donald Lim Siang Chai the MCA “will help the state government approve more land for Chinese schools, particularly in predominantly Chinese areas in Selangor”.

One is of disbelief that the MCA leaders can stoop so low in their attempt to win a few seats in the coming elections. But perhaps we should not be surprised that the MCA is scrapping the bottom of the barrel in terms of political integrity. Learning from the senior partner, UMNO, electoral bribery appears to be the main item in the standard operating procedure manual of MCA for the coming election, so desperate is the BN to remain in power.

The second is to question why this proposal to build more Chinese schools has come now. After all, before Pakatan took over in 2008, the MCA was part of the Selangor state government for 50 years. During the past decade the demand for Chinese schools in the state (and in other urban areas of the country) has especially grown tremendously. However, this demand was ignored by the MCA leaders. Continue reading “MCA’s Record on Education: Shameful and Pathetic”

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Can University of Malaya leapfrog in QS World University Rankings 2012 to be released in 20 days’ time to restore her previous place as one of the world’s top 100 universities before 2015?

At the University of Malaya’s centennial celebrations in June 2005, the then Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak threw the challenge to University of Malaya to raise its 89th position among the world’s top 100 universities in THES-QS (Times Higher Education Supplement-Quacquarelli Symonds) ranking in 2004 to 50 by the year 2020.

Instead of accepting Najib’s challenge with incremental improvement of its THES ranking, the premier university went into a free fall when in 2005 and 2006 it fell to 169th and 192nd ranking respectively, and in the following two years in 2007 and 2008, fell out of the 200 Top Universities ranking altogether.

In 2009, University of Malaya made a comeback to the 200 Top Universities Ranking when it was placed No. 180, but in 2010 it again fell out of the 200 Top Universities list when it dropped to 207th placing.

For the 2011 QS Top 200 Universities Ranking, University of Malaya returned to the Top 200 Universities Ranking, being placed at No. 167.

In the THES-QS World University Rankings 2009, University of Malaya leapfrogged 50 places from No. 230 placing in 2008 to No. 180 in 2009; while in the 2011 QS World University Ranking, University of Malaya leapt 40 places from No. 207 in 2010 to No. 167 in 2011.

The QS World University Rankings 2012 will be released in 20 days’ time. Can University of Malaya make another leapfrog as in 2009 and 2011 to seriously restore her place as one of the world’s top 100 universities by before 2015? Continue reading “Can University of Malaya leapfrog in QS World University Rankings 2012 to be released in 20 days’ time to restore her previous place as one of the world’s top 100 universities before 2015?”

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Malaysia’s Olympic Legacy: Stop Moaning, Start Planning

Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysian Mirror
08 August 2012

It’s an established fact: Sportsmen like Lee Chong Wei unite Malaysians like no politician can. Prime minister Najib Abdul Razak struggles with his ‘1Malaysia’ slogan just as Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s promises of change, fail to convince some Malaysians.

There is a disgusting predictability whenever a high-profile tournament fails to deliver the expected victorious result.

In last weekend’s Olympic badminton finals when Malaysia’s hopes of her first Gold medal were dashed, we blamed the athletes, their lack of determination, their weak fighting spirit, their ineffective coaches and the useless accompanying officials.

We praised the victors for their superiority. We blamed the presence of certain personalities for bringing bad luck to the players. A few of us even introduced the racial element, to sport.

Why are our hopes pinned on a handful of sportsmen? Why do we have so few world-class athletes? Continue reading “Malaysia’s Olympic Legacy: Stop Moaning, Start Planning”

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What leadership?

Rom Nain
Malaysiakini
Jul 5, 2012

Many of the people in the news these days – and, by and large, that, of course, means BN politicians – really must have been smoking some pretty bad weed, as it were.

Indeed, it’s as though, in their stupor, they’d been soliciting roadside snake oil merchants to get some modal – anything that’s deemed mujarab – from how to come up with expensive and totally unconvincing, made-in-Thailand sex videos, to tall tales of infidelity that even a village idiot would find far-fetched and absolutely ridiculous.

Many of us, on the other hand, wish that, instead, they would spend their time – and our money – on more constructive, productive and, certainly, creative pursuits, like resolving the country’s debt problems and really, genuinely, bringing down our crime statistics.

Indeed, we wish that they would do the job that they were put there for in the first place instead of just bumming around making mischief.

Unfortunately, many of them simply seem incapable of doing so. Continue reading “What leadership?”

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Drinking from the same fountain

— Justin Santiago
The Malaysian Insider
Jul 08, 2012

JULY 8 — When I was very young I remember looking at a set of pictures of post World War 2 America. The picture that struck me most was a water cooler with two taps on either side. The one on the left said Blacks Only and the one on the other side said Whites Only.

To many parents in Malaysia that picture still exists when their children choose to go for government subsidised pre university education. The non Bumiputeras will be shunted to the left to take the Form Six route and the Bumiputeras will be shunted to right to take the Matriculation route.

From the statement made by Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin there appears to be a difference between the two. There was a perception that matriculation courses were far better than Form Six and that Form Six was viewed as a last resort for getting into tertiary education.

A plan is being put into place to boost the image and perception of Form Six. A “rebranding” exercise would be carried out to boost the perception of Form Six. The syllabus and structure will be revamped. Logistical aspects of centralizing students and strong support systems would be looked into. Students would no longer have to wear the school uniform. Continue reading “Drinking from the same fountain”

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Wither English, wither the nation

— Thomas Fann
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 21, 2012

JUNE 21 — The title of this article is inspired by a presentation I heard at an English language conference I attended recently. It was a gathering of educators involved in the teaching of English in schools and people who are committed to raising the standard of spoken and written English in our nation. Coincidentally, another article by Stephen Doss was published at the same time entitled “Whither the standard of English.” (http://stephendoss.blogspot.com/2012/06/whither-standard-of-english.html)

CURRENT SITUATION

For me, a few facts stood out. Firstly, the height from which our command of English has fallen in our nation as a whole. Most of the invited speakers spoke impeccable English, especially the “dinosaurs” amongst them. But they were from a bygone era, an era where English was the main language of instruction in our schools and our proficiency in the language was among some of the best in the world.

Secondly, there is a sense of haplessness among the educators that they are going against the flow, that the political will is not there to stem the downward slide despite all the chatter from politicians about improving the standard of English in our country. The reversal in the decision to teach maths and science in English is one such example of this inconsistency.

Thirdly, that the fruit of this decline is now maturing in our society, where we heard a newspaper editor and a hotel owner bemoaning the fact that they are finding it increasingly difficult to secure employees who are able to speak and write good English, which is a vital criteria in their industries. We used to laugh at signage and product manuals from China but now we laugh with them.

But alas, all is not lost especially when we heard from some of the younger teachers who spoke. Their passion, creativity and commitment to raise the level of English in our schools and their use of new technology are encouraging and gave us hope that there are still many out there who believe that English as a language is still important in this country. Continue reading “Wither English, wither the nation”

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Do you trust them?

— Ali Kadir
The Malaysian Insider
June 19, 2012

JUNE 19 — Everything begins and ends with this question: Do you trust them?

Do you trust Khaled Nordin to look after the interest of Malaysians or do you believe that the Parliamentary Select Committee was set up to regurgitate information provided by Lynas and merely rubber stamp an investment already banked in by the Barisan Nasional government?

Please bear in mind that Khaled is also the minister who believed he was doing the right thing when he froze federal loans to students at Unisel in a show a political gamesmanship that he lost.

Do you trust Rais Yatim when he tells all and sundry that only 22,000 Malaysians attended Bersih 3.0?

Do you trust M. Kayveas when he says that urban Malaysians are navel-gazers and an ungrateful bunch who only know how to whine? Continue reading “Do you trust them?”

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Remove Moral Studies from the SPM

CPIASIA
Foreword by CPI

A group of concerned parents are making a representation to Suhakam with regard to many longstanding complaints about Moral Studies taught in upper secondary school.

For many years now, the exam format of this subject has been so rigid that students are forced to strictly memorize 36 ‘values’ and definitions. They are then required to regurgitate word for word what they’ve memorized when sitting the SPM paper.

Such a method of testing morality is best suited to training parrots and appears to be designed by monkeys. Who are these monkeys that have been instrumental in designing the examination and how have they been allowed to get away with their monkey business for so long?

Any youth who has been educated to think critically might well ask, why 36 values, and why not 35 or 37? Who defines these ‘values’? Why must definitions drafted by some textbook writers be so stringent that not a word is to be changed? Even the 10 Commandments handed down by God from atop Mount Sinai allow more flexibility in their wording.
Continue reading “Remove Moral Studies from the SPM”

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The big PTPTN blunder

— Stephen Ng
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 10, 2012

JUNE 10 — I have been following the news about the PTPTN, and had previously written about it as well.

The latest development by the minister of higher education, Khaled Nordin, is one of the worst of Umno’s political games.

From the shared script with Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, the victims were apparently the students and their parents.

This ploy did not take into consideration the younger generation of Malaysians who cannot afford the higher education under the present Barisan Nasional regime.

To play on their sentiments is something that most Malaysians will not forgive.

Sometimes, silence is golden. In this case, it only became worse when Khaled Nordin had the cheek to say that the freeze on PTPTN loans to Selangor-owned tertiary education institutions “was sparked by the Selangor government’s failure to find a permanent solution for providing free education.” Continue reading “The big PTPTN blunder”