An Education System Worthy of Malaysia #62 (Final Installment)

An Education System Worthy of Malaysia #62

This is the final installment of the serialization of my book. After a brief updating remarks next Wednesday, I will begin serializing my latest book, Towards A Competitive Malaysia: Development Challenges of the Twenty-First Century. The first installment will begin on Wednesday April 11, 2007.

Chapter 10: Putting It All Together (Final Installment)

The professionals at the schools would set the curriculum, choose the textbooks, and assess the students. The ministry’s role would be to provide guidelines and to set the minimum standards for the core subjects. The schools would be expected to exceed those standards through their own unique ways. For vocational schools I would expect industry to set up the curriculum so students would learn what would be relevant for the marketplace.

I would revamp the entire Islamic stream, from preschool to university, by integrating it into the mainstream. There is no good reason for segregating Muslim students into their own separate and exclusive schools. If that were not possible, then I would at least integrate their curriculum with the regular stream. That is, Islamic Studies would now be only one subject and not the all-consuming curriculum. These students would still, like all other Malaysians, have to take the four compulsory core subjects. The current Islamic matriculation examination STAM would also be eliminated and students would have to take the regular STP with the four core subjects. Their additional two subjects could be Islamic Studies and Arabic.

The cause of Islam would be better served by having its future scholars and ulamas broadly educated and exposed to students of various backgrounds. These Islamic schools must also produce their share of the nation’s professionals, scientists, and executives. These schools should not become modern seminaries.

The undergraduate curriculum should be broad-based and liberal along the American tradition. Students pursuing a degree in the natural sciences must take some courses in the humanities; those in the liberal arts must be exposed to laboratory science and mathematics. Additionally, law and medicine ought to be graduate programs, that is, requirements for entry must include a baccalaureate degree.

My proposal calls for private sector participation at all levels. This would not only lighten the load on the public purse but also introduce much needed innovation and competition. There could be purely private institutions or those that are joint public and private sector partnership in the form of charter schools and universities. Charter institutions would receive state funding in the amount equivalent to what it would have cost the state to have those students educated in public schools and universities. Both private and charter institutions must have a student body that reflects the general society. This would be the best way to achieve greater integration and social cohesion. Private schools would have only one required core subject, Malay, while charter schools would have the same four core subjects as in public schools. Beyond that the school is free to chart its own course, including the freedom to choose its language of instruction. Conceivably there could be a school using Swahili if there is enough demand from a broad section of Malaysians. Charter schools would have its managing board made up of mostly parents and teachers.

We must actively discourage segregating the young. It should be a condition for issuing the operating permits of schools and other institutions that their student body must reflect the greater society. The government could encourage this goal by providing scholarships and grants. Having a diverse study body would greatly enhance the learning experience of the students. What better way to prepare them for the diverse global marketplace than to have them exposed to the different cultures during their student days? The remarkable enriching experience of an American undergraduate program is precisely because of this incredibly diverse environment, culturally and academically.

Teachers’ colleges deserve special mention. A well-trained teacher is the core of any successful system; hence the importance of these colleges. They should train teachers for preschool to Year 9. At high school, teachers should have a bachelor’s degree followed by a year’s training in how to teach. I disagree with the proposal of the National Brains Trust to making all teachers have a degree, as in America. Nor do I agree with the American system of training teachers where the emphasis is in the methodology of teaching (pedagogy) at the expense of expertise in a particular subject. I would prefer that teachers first be experts in their chosen subjects and then be trained to teach, at least for the high school level.

In recognition of the importance of English and also with the recent decision to teach science and mathematics in that language, I would convert many of the current teachers’ colleges into complete English medium institutions. I would also encourage greater specializations with some emphasizing the performing arts, others science and mathematics.

To attract the talented into teaching we must not only pay them better but also give them clear and varied paths for professional advancement. Teachers colleges’ must have opportunities in their curriculum so their trainees could sit for university matriculation examinations.

Thus when they finish their training they could also qualify to pursue a degree. With such opportunities we would be able to attract more of the talented into teachers’ colleges. This would be far preferable to upgrading all teachers’ colleges into universities, as in America.

We should instead upgrade the standards of our teachers’ colleges. The experience of the old British teachers’ colleges like Brinsford Lodge and Kirby is relevant. They produced high quality teachers; many of their graduates went on to pursue their degrees, including graduate degrees. On many local universities today we see many of these former teachers now with their doctorates. We should be replicating the Kirbys and Brinsford Lodges.

We should improve the pay scale for teachers; an increase of 25 percent would be appropriate. I would also have allowances for those with much-need skills, like teachers of English, science, and mathematics, and another allowance for those teaching in rural areas. Thus a science teacher posted to Ulu Kelantan would enjoy double allowances. With such incentives we would greatly reduce the gaping divide between urban and rural schools.

Additionally I would have incentives for poor parents to keep their children in school. These include paying parents to do so; by incorporating meal and health programs at school; and making the school day longer so these children would do their homework and extra studying at school. I would make their classrooms attractive by air-conditioning them and ending double sessions.

I call for markedly reducing the activities of MOE, specifically dispensing with DBP, LAN, and reducing the scope of the examination syndicates. DBP‘s translating and scholarly activities could be shifted to the universities, while its publishing and printing arm privatized. Similarly both LAN and the examination syndicate could be made into autonomous bodies and funded solely through the fees they charge.

With a major chunk of MOE‘s activities dispensed, it would become a much slimmer entity and be able to accomplish its core mission more effectively.

I also call for streamlining and consolidating the sponsorship of students studying abroad. We should send only our best, and then only to the top institutions. They should also be given the freedom to choose their own field of study.

The salient feature of my reform is that it does not entail major outlays of expenditures. In fact it would reduce the aggregate costs by more efficient use of present facilities and resources. Nor would my proposals require changes in the law; no new enabling legislations would be required to effect the changes I am advocating. The reforms could be achieved within the current framework. That cannot be said of the other competing proposals.

END

Next: Concluding Comments on the serialization