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Tiga keadaan mendukacitakan untuk Malaysia dalam penilaian pelajar antarabangsa PISA 2012 bagi subjek matematik, sains dan bacaan

Sekiranya pencapaian Malaysia dalam tiga subjek matematik, sains, dan bacaan dalam PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) 2012 adalah sedikit lebih baik daripada ujian PISA 2010, sudah tentu Timbalan Perdana Menteri merangkap Menteri Pendidikan Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin akan menyebut perkara tersebut dalam ucapannya sewaktu pembukaan mesyuarat agung tahunan Pemuda, Wanita, dan Puteri Umno pada malam Selasa lalu (keputusan PISA keluar awal hari yang sama) sebagai bukti bahawa Malaysia sedang bangkit untuk menghasilkan sebuah sistem pendidikan bertaraf dunia di bawah kepimpinannya.

Tetapi keputusan PISA 2012 lebih sesuai dijadikan sebab untuk bermuram daripada bersuka ria. Kerana itulah Muhyiddin membisu tentang keputusan PISA – tidak seperti rakan sejawatannya dari Singapura, Menteri Pendidikan Heng Swee Keat yang menyebut pada hari keputusan PISA diumumkan bahawa beliau amat gembira remaja berusia 15 tahun di Singapura telah mencatatkan pencapaian yang “amat, amat baik” dalam PISA 2012, memandangkan pelajar Singapura ditempatkan pada tangga kedua dalam matematik, ketiga dalam sains dan bacaan dalam ujian penilaian global yang melibatkan 510,100 pelajar berusia 15 tahun dari 65 buah negara dan wilayah.

Menteri Pendidikan Thai, Chaturon Chaisang ceria apabila pelajar Thai mencatatkan skor 441 dalam bacaan, 427 dalam matematik dan 444 dalam sains (mengatasi Malaysian dalam ketiga-tiga subjek itu). Menurut beliau, pencapaian pelajar-pelajar Thai membayangkan potensi negara itu dan mampu menarik masuk pelaburan.
Continue reading “Tiga keadaan mendukacitakan untuk Malaysia dalam penilaian pelajar antarabangsa PISA 2012 bagi subjek matematik, sains dan bacaan”

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Muhyiddin should outline concrete plans to prove that the Malaysia Education Blueprint for Malaysia’s 15-year-olds to be in top third of countries in 2021 PISA is no “pie in the sky”

Malaysia has two Education Ministers but this has not stopped the country from continuing to slide down international educational standards, transforming our previous status in the early Merdeka years as a nation of excellence for primary, secondary and university education into a nation of mediocrity.

This was painfully highlighted by two events last week, the release of the 2012 PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) last Tuesday and the inaugural Times Higher Education BRICS & Emerging Economies Rankings 2014 last Wednesday.

The 2012 PISA, a global test of 510,000 15-year-old students in 65 countries in reading, science and maths, found Malaysia’s 15-year-olds not only below the international average in the three critical subjects but four or even five years behind their peers in the top-performing PISA countries/regions in Shanghai, Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The inaugural Times Higher Education BRICS and Emerging Economies Rankings 2014 has finally confirmed Malaysia’s removal from the pedestal of the world’s top ranking universities – as not a single Malaysian university succeeded for the third year running to be ranked in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for top 400 universities for 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14. Continue reading “Muhyiddin should outline concrete plans to prove that the Malaysia Education Blueprint for Malaysia’s 15-year-olds to be in top third of countries in 2021 PISA is no “pie in the sky””

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Muhyiddin should stop “building castles in the air” about Malaysia among the top one-third of TIMSS and PISA systems by 2021 when he seems to be comfortable or resigned to the country being a nation of mediocrity instead of being a nation of excellence

The Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin will be remembered for what he failed to say instead of what he said in the past week.

On the morning of his joint opening of the annual general meetings of UMNO Youth, Wanita and Puteri on Tuesday night, the 2012 PISA results on the global assessment of 510,000 15-year-old students in 65 countries and regions on the three critical subjects of mathematics, reading and science were released, but he did not have anything to say on it although it fell directly under his portfolio.

Although Muhyiddin as Education Minister would have earlier notice of the 2012 PISA results, he continued to keep dumb on the 2012 PISA results, even omitting reference to it in his winding-up speech at the three-day UMNO General Assembly yesterday.

Elsewhere in the world, the 2012 PISA results have created waves. Continue reading “Muhyiddin should stop “building castles in the air” about Malaysia among the top one-third of TIMSS and PISA systems by 2021 when he seems to be comfortable or resigned to the country being a nation of mediocrity instead of being a nation of excellence”

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Muhyiddin cannot continue to be dumbstruck by 2012 PISA results five days ago but must speak up on responses by Education Ministry

The Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin cannot continue to be dumbstruck by the 2012 PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) results five days ago but must speak up on the responses by the Education Ministry.

Malaysia should at least learn from England which has swung into immediate action, announcing the creation of 30 elite maths centres across the country after the 2012 PISA results which find that UK schoolchildren are up to three years behind their peers in the top-performing countries in Asia.

Under the new UK plan, secondary school teachers will provide expert tuition to primary pupils as part of government reforms designed to address serious failing in maths. Continue reading “Muhyiddin cannot continue to be dumbstruck by 2012 PISA results five days ago but must speak up on responses by Education Ministry”

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Triple woes for Malaysia in the 2012 PISA international student assessment for mathematics, science and reading

If only Malaysia had made slight progress in all the three subjects of mathematics, science and reading in the 2012 PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) as compared to the previous PISA test in 2010, the Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin would have highlighted the issue in his speech when opening the annual general meetings of Umno Youth, Wanita and Puteri on Tuesday night (the PISA results were released earlier the same day) as evidence that Malaysia was progressing towards a world-class education system under his leadership.

But the 2012 PISA results were more grounds for despondency rather than celebration, and this is why Muhyiddin was conspicuously silent about the PISA results – unlike his Singapore counterpart, Education Minister Heng Swee Keat who said on the same day the PISA results were released that he was “very happy that Singapore’s 15-year-olds had done “very, very well” in 2012 PISA, as the Singapore students ranked second in mathematics and third in science and reading in the global assessment taken by about 510,000 15-year-old students in 65 countries and regions.

The Thai Education Minister, Chaturon Chaisang was upbeat with the results of the Thai students scoring 441 in reading, 427 in mathematics and 444 in science (beating Malaysia in all three subjects), saying that the Thai ranking demonstrated the country’s potential and could attract investment.

Malaysia has more than enough reasons to rue the 2012 PISA, as the country has proclaimed that it aspired to be in the top third of the countries in the world in terms of performance in international assessments, as measured by outcomes in the PISA or Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) by 2021. Continue reading “Triple woes for Malaysia in the 2012 PISA international student assessment for mathematics, science and reading”

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What Good Things Has the Govt Done for Malaysians?

By Kee Thuan Chye
Yahoo! News
22nd Nov 2013

I wanted to write something positive about the Federal Government. But I could think of only two good things that it has done in the last few months.

One of them – making English a must-pass subject at the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examinations starting in 2016 – I had written about at length before. The other is the introduction of financial education in the school curriculum starting next year with Primary 3 students and in 2017 for secondary schools.

This is a welcome move by the Education Ministry, although it is being done with the collaboration of Bank Negara, which seems to have initiated the idea. I wish we had this when I was in school; it would have helped me understand money and what to do with it. This is something important to learn from young, and I’m happy for our young that they will soon be getting that benefit.

If I had learned how to save, invest, manage my finances and plan for the future, I might not have squandered the money I earned in my youth. I could be owning numerous units of property now or earning substantial revenue from investing in businesses. Today, I wouldn’t still have to slog to eke out a living.

So much for that. But for my project, I figured that if I wrote only about this good thing being done for our young, I might manage just one-quarter the length of an article. That would be too short. But I did want to write something positive. So what could I do? Continue reading “What Good Things Has the Govt Done for Malaysians?”

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Don’t Talk Big, Mahathir, You Brought Down Our English

By Kee Thuan Chye
Yahoo! News
15.11.2013

Not that I want to knock Mahathir Mohamad, you know, I’ve knocked him so many times before, but I cannot tahan laa when he tries to act innocent and say things should be like this or that now when he never did anything when he was prime minister to do the right things himself. In fact, for some things, he did the opposite.

Take what he now says about our graduates not being able to get jobs because they fail at interviews – because their English is poor. Now, let me ask him, when he was PM, did he do anything to make Malaysian students learn the language seriously other than learning Maths and Science in English? No, he didn’t!

He didn’t have the guts to go one step further and give more emphasis to learning English in schools. He floated the idea of bringing back English-medium schools but that petered out. He was only testing the idea. When it didn’t work, he pulled back, like a tortoise head into its shell.

He didn’t even make passing English at the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) exam compulsory. In fact, English ceased to be a must-pass subject in 1974, when he was education minister. He said Malay students might fail the whole SPM if English was a must-pass. Instead of spurring them on to master the language so that they would pass it and SPM as well, he gave them the easy way out. After that, succeeding generations of students couldn’t be bothered with English. He was responsible for that mistake. The National Union of Teachers protested, but did he care? Continue reading “Don’t Talk Big, Mahathir, You Brought Down Our English”

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Education ministry’s tacit approval of racism in schools

— Ravinder Singh
The Malay Mail Online
November 9, 2013

The stand taken by Hashim Adnan, president of the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) and Datuk Mohd Ali Hassan, President of the National Parent-Teacher Association Collaborative Council that the Ministry of Education must issue circulars on racial issues to schools is correct and should be supported by all anti-racism persons.

They were responding to Education Minister II Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh’s defence of the racist things going on in schools by saying that school authorities should rely on their “conscience and moral realisation to know the sensitivities of other races”.

So has he let the cat out of the bag? Does he mean to say that the Education Ministry has all along been in full and tacit support of head-teachers who have been telling non-Malay students to “balik India, balik Cina”; hiding non-Malay children in toilet cafeterias during Ramadan; slaughtering cattle in school compounds in the name of Korban, etc. for these actions (and maybe more) were carried out with full “conscience and moral realisation knowing the sensitivities of other races”.

The two NGO leaders, who happen to be Malay Muslims, are rational enough to see the harm and damage that racism in schools is doing not just to the children, but to the nation itself. Instead of building good, ethnic relationships across the races, the schools that are practicing racism are building walls between the races. Is this what the government wants? Is this the much touted 1Malaysia? Continue reading “Education ministry’s tacit approval of racism in schools”

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Worst Educational Measure Ever? Making History a Compulsory Pass Subject

Koon Yew Yin
8.11.2013

The recent policy decision to make history a compulsory pass for SPM students ranks as one of the most ill-conceived and irresponsible measure ever introduced into the Malaysian educational system since we gained our independence.

According to the Second Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh, the move is an effort toward teaching students to become good citizens.

“It is not our intention to fail them. We intend to pass them, but at least let them know the basic history of our country. He also said that if history is not made a compulsory-pass, many treat the subject as unimportant and they don’t want to know our history, what happened in the past and will not appreciate what we have now,” he said.

Everyone knows what a bad state Malaysian education is in. At the secondary school level standards of mathematics and science are low; fluency of Bahasa and English is poor; and knowledge of ICT and technology is limited. At the same time competence in skills such as analysis, problem solving, reasoning and communication are lacking. Continue reading “Worst Educational Measure Ever? Making History a Compulsory Pass Subject”

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Apakah Muhyiddin akan memperuntukkan RM480 juta kepada dua SRJK(C) Kuo Kuang 1 dan 2 di Gelang Patah berasaskan janjinya dalam pilihanraya kecil Sg Limau?

Dalam pilihanraya kecil Sungai Limau, Timbalan Perdana Menteri merangkap Menteri Pendidikan Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin mengumumkan peruntukan sebanyak RM1 juta untuk SRJK(C) Aik Min, RM1 million untuk SRJK(C) Yuk Meng di Sungai Limau dan RM50,000 untuk SRJK (C) Pek Hwa.

SRJK(C) Aik Min mempunyai 15 murid dalam lima kelas, iaitu:

Darjah 1 – 2 murid
Darjah 2 – 2 murid
Darjah 3 – 5 murid
Darjah 4 – 3 murid
Darjah 5 – tiada murid
Darjah 6 – 3 murid
Jumlah – 15 murid

SRJK(C) Yuk Meng di Sungai Limau mempunyai 41 orang murid dalam enam kelas, iaitu:

Darjah 1 – 1 pupil
Darjah 2 – 5 murid
Darjah 3 – 10 murid
Darjah 4 – 4 murid
Darjah 5 – 12 murid
Darjah 6 – 9 murid
Jumlah – 41 murid

Sewaktu mengumumkan peruntukan berkenaan dalam pilihanraya kecil Sungai Limau, Muhyiddin menyebut bahawa kerajaan Barisan Nasional akan terus membantu sekolah Cina dan Tamil selagi ada matahari dan bulan.
Continue reading “Apakah Muhyiddin akan memperuntukkan RM480 juta kepada dua SRJK(C) Kuo Kuang 1 dan 2 di Gelang Patah berasaskan janjinya dalam pilihanraya kecil Sg Limau?”

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Will Muhyiddin allocate RM480 million to the two SRJK© Kuo Kuang1 and 2 in Gelang Patah based on his promise in Sg Limau by-election?

In the Sungai Limau by-election, Deputy Prime Minister-cum-Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced allocation of RM1 million for SRJK © Aik Min, RM1 million for SRJK© Yuk Meng in Sungai Limau and RM50,000 for SRJK (C) Pek Hwa.

SRJK © Aik Min has 15 students in five classes, i.e:

Std. 1 – 2 pupils
Std. 2 – 2 pupils
Std. 3 – 5 pupils
Std. 4 – 3 pupils
Std. 5 – no pupils
Std. 6 – 3 pupils
Total – 15 pupils

SRJK © Yuk Meng in Sungai Limau has 41 students in six classes, viz:

Std. 1 – 1 pupil
Std. 2 – 5 pupils
Std. 3 – 10 pupils
Std. 4 – 4 pupils
Std. 5 – 12 pupils
Std. 6 – 9 pupils
Total – 41 pupils Continue reading “Will Muhyiddin allocate RM480 million to the two SRJK© Kuo Kuang1 and 2 in Gelang Patah based on his promise in Sg Limau by-election?”

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How low can you go?

by Leanne Goh
The Star
October 27, 2013

It is common knowledge among teachers that a student who keeps flunking the school test can actually get a decent grade in the SPM exam.

What is the passing mark for an SPM subject? Many teachers estimate it to be seriously low for some papers, way lower than the school’s benchmark.

WHEN I last wrote that more than 100,000 students, or close to a quarter of those sitting for the SPM English, were at risk of leaving school without an SPM certificate, the response was unexpected.

“Ms Goh,” I was told, “don’t worry, the marks may be lowered even further to allow many to pass.”

And that view, I was surprised to learn, was shared by many. Continue reading “How low can you go?”

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Helping Kim Jong Un: HELP’s Bad Mistake

Koon Yew Yin
25.10.2013

Friends and some other people in my social circle know of my deep interest in education. For those who do not know me, let me say that education has helped me to be who I am and where I am. Recognizing the value of education I have tried to fulfil my social responsibility and repay my debt to society by making educational work the main focus of my charitable contribution to those less fortunate.

Since I began my educational philanthropic mission, I have received and read close to a thousand applications for financial assistance. At the beginning, I found that most of the applicants had fairly good SPM results and were able to express themselves reasonably well in English. But besides lacking the funds, they had difficulty in gaining admittance to universities which had stringent entry standards.

However, as time has gone by, I have been shocked by the low educational standard of the applicants and especially their poor command of the English language. I have been also shocked by the ease with which these students have been accepted by the various universities they have applied to. During my time and even until ten years ago, they would not even have been considered for fifth or sixth form entry so low was their standards. Continue reading “Helping Kim Jong Un: HELP’s Bad Mistake”

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Bebalisma in Malaysian society

Aerie Rahman
The Malaysian Insider
October 21, 2013

OCT 21 — The Malaysia that I know of, which has forever been under the Barisan Nasional power structure, is akin to a poorly written play.

Those in power are actors onstage while the rakyat are members of the audience.

Lights out, please!

The play would begin with members of parliament squabbling and haranguing each other. Grandstanding is the game here, gents.

Suddenly, things would come to a halt with the Auditor-General bursting into Parliament. The mood is intense. He subsequently submits his annual report. Continue reading “Bebalisma in Malaysian society”

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Tiga soalan “ketamadunan” untuk Naib Canselor dan Menteri

– Prof Dr. Mohamad Tajuddin Mohamad Rasdi
The Malaysian Insider
October 19, 2013

Saya ingin berkongsi suatu perkara yang penting yang telah berlaku sejurus selepas kuliah saya di UTM baru-baru ini.

Dua orang mahasiswa Melayu datang ke pejabat saya untuk bertanyakan beberapa isu. Pada kebiasaannya mahasiswa atau mahasiswi yang datang ke pejabat saya akan bertanyakan tentang soalan berkaitan senibina dan juga tugasan yang diberikan.

Tetapi, pada hari itu, kedua-dua mahasiwa ini telah bertanyakan tiga soalan yang kini seluruh negara kita sedang berhadapan tetapi tidak terjawab. Saya perturunkan tiga soalan ini dengan jawapan saya tetapi sebahagian jawapan saya adalah soalan kepada pucuk pimpinan universiti awam dan pimpinan negara. Ketiga-tiga soalan itu berkisar terhadap isu ketamadunan, perkauman dan kemanusiaan.

Soalan pertama yang telah diajukan kepada saya oleh salah seorang dari dua orang mahasiswa yang hadir ke pejabat saya di UTM adalah:

“Dewasa ini kita sering dengar banyak sekali yang diperkatakan tentang Islam oleh ustaz-ustaz dan tokoh-tokoh ugama. Tetapi yang saya pelik adalah dalam melaut perbincangan tentang ugama Islam, kenapa tahap kemanusiaan kita makin hari makin rendah?” Continue reading “Tiga soalan “ketamadunan” untuk Naib Canselor dan Menteri”

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While Putrajaya spends, now Malaysian universities not even in Times rankings

by Elizabeth Zachariah
The Malaysian Insider
October 03, 2013

Although Putrajaya continues to spend billions on education, Malaysian universities are not benefitting from it. If it’s any indication, for the third year running Malaysian universities have failed to feature in the latest Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

Meanwhile, universities in Thailand and Singapore continue to track higher as shown in the 2013-14 Times survey.

Last year alone Putrajaya allocated RM38.7 billion in its budget for education, with emphasis on improving quality and standards.

One of Putrajaya’s goals is also to make Malaysia an education hub for the region and attract some 200,000 students to local universities by 2020.

But these latest rankings show that for all the money spent and all of Putrajaya’s efforts, Malaysia’s institutions of higher learning are falling behind. Continue reading “While Putrajaya spends, now Malaysian universities not even in Times rankings”

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Security in schools sees RM2bil go down the tube

Auditor-General’s 2012 Report
Malaysiakini
Oct 1, 2013

AUDIT REPORT The 2012 Auditor-General’s Report has revealed severe mishandling of RM2.051 billion with regard to hiring security contractors for schools between 2010 and 2012.

From poorly prepared contracts to hiring of septuagenarians as security guards, the auditor-general said the management of security services in 35 schools and hostels surveyed was generally unsatisfactory.

The audit, which involved schools in Selangor, Perlis and Sabah, found that the contracts were not uniform and did not state specific requirements set by the Education Ministry. Continue reading “Security in schools sees RM2bil go down the tube”

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RM20 million for education blueprint is reasonable, says Muhyiddin

by Diyana Ibrahim
The Malaysian Insider
September 25, 2013

Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (pic) stood by Putrajaya’s decision to pay RM20 million to consulting firm McKinsey and Co for the National Education Blueprint.

He said the sum was reasonable as it was a two-year-project involving large scale processes and input from international experts.

“I believe it was a reasonable sum as we needed assistance from experts. It was not something we could have done on our own,” said Muhyiddin who is also the Deputy Prime Minister. Continue reading “RM20 million for education blueprint is reasonable, says Muhyiddin”

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A matter of human dignity

by KJ John
Malaysiakini
Sep 17, 2013

I was touched and moved by Marina Mahathir’s excellent treatise on the value of human dignity in her most recent column in The Star. Hers related to our school system. That motivated me to share my own experience and that of my two sons in our school system.

My experience of abuse

First my own experience given that I am now already 63 years old. Yes, when I was in Form Two, in the Ibrahim Secondary School of Sungai Petani, one afternoon, my friend Gobalkrishnan and I went to play basketball in our school. We borrowed the school basketball which was kept by the canteen operator after signing our names in the book.

While we were making hoop shots a younger student in school uniform came and asked to take the basketball for his class because his teacher wanted the ball for his PE class. We said no, as we had borrowed and signed for it.

After a while the class teacher turned up with the same boy and asked for the ball; I said the same thing that we had signed up for the ball to play. He slapped me across the face and threw the ball at my friend’s head. Then they walked away with our ball! Continue reading “A matter of human dignity”

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Why are our English teaching standards so low?

Khairie Hisyam Aliman
The Malay Mail Online
September 16, 2013

SEPT 16 — Recently we heard that out of 60,000 English teachers nationwide, about 70 per cent of them did poorly when sitting for the English Language Cambridge Placement Test.

Last Monday, Education Minister II Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh said these English language teachers, classified as “unfit” to teach the subject, had been sent to courses to improve their command of English.

“The ministry will also consider sending them overseas for exchange programmes to take up TESL (Teaching of English as a Second Language) courses,” a news report quoted him as saying, while adding that a good portion of these teachers had enrolled in local English courses.

Well, now talk last year of Malaysia possibly importing English teachers from India is put in a different perspective. But the core of the problem is also brought to light — what’s up with our teacher recruitment process?

While I am all for continuous self-improvement whatever your job title is, these “unfit” teachers have no business teaching English in the first place. If they are unfit to teach English to our kids and have to be trained further to be good enough, how is it that they became English teachers in the first place? Continue reading “Why are our English teaching standards so low?”