PETALING JAYA: Quality education is malaysia’s biggest issue, said a former top civil servant. Tan Sri Mohd Sherif Kassim, a co-founder of g-25, the group of 25 ex-senior civil servants, said there was no issue with “quantity education” as Malaysia already had a favourable teacher to pupil ratio that is among the best in the world.
“The quality needs improvement. The weakness is also in school discipline. In remote areas, teacher absenteeism is rampant. Some teachers bring their agenda on race and religion into the classroom.”
Mohd Sheriff said parents also wanted more teaching hours in primary schools for English, Mathematics and Science, just like in Chinese schools, so their children are better qualified for the job market.
“There are also complaints that the primary school curriculum spends too much time on religion for Malay students. During religious classes, the Malay and non-Malays have to be physically separated.
“As religion takes up a lot of teaching hours, there is not enough time for English language lessons. English proficiency also comes from extra-curricular activities like concerts and debating classes. Teachers have no time for these character-building activities,” said Mohd Sheriff.
He added that it is for these reasons that although parents today are economically better off, many middle-income families do not feel it because the money is spent on their children’s private tuition.
“Some sacrifice everything by sending them to private schools. Alternatively, if they can’t afford it, they send their children to Chinese vernacular schools instead.”
Mohd Sheriff urged the government to reform national schools to make them the first choice for parents.
He said Malaysia has all the physical facilities and teachers but what is lacking is the political courage to empower the local district education office and headmasters to carry out the Education Ministry’s policy of making schools truly multicultural to attract all races to study under one roof.
“By making national schools the first choice for parents, Chinese school enrolment will fall and private schools will lose their glamour,” he said.
A recent report in theSun quoted some stakeholders as saying that despite numerous revamps and policy changes, the education system may be heading for failure.
Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) president Datin Azmah Abdul Rahim said it was frustrating to see the top administration responsible for the nation’s education system not realising their shortcomings.
“They have failed to see what they are missing and therefore, any changes or revamps that are done are superficial and do not solve the bigger problem,” said Azimah.
A former secondary school teacher, who provided his name only as Asri, said changes in the education system were mainly in the syllabus but teachers were not given the right tools to educate students.
“I hope the Education Ministry realises that whatever it is doing is not working and requires an in-depth relook. A good result on paper is like giving students false hope. When they go out into the real world or to other countries for further studies, then they might realise where they stand,” he added.
Mohd Sheriff urged the government to reform national schools to make them the first choice for parents.
