Priorities In Reforming Malaysian Education

Priorities In Reforming Malaysian Education

M. Bakri Musa

 

In Alice in Wonderland the Cheshire Cat advised Alice that if she does not know or care where she wanted to go, then any road will take her there. Likewise, if she just wants to get somewhere or just anywhere.

 

            This was my thought on viewing Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek’s presentation at the January 8, 2025 Astro Awani’s Forum on “Economy Malaysia 2025:  Education Reforms Raising The Floor,” moderated by BFM Radio’s Malek Ali. Fadhlina was introducing her Ministry’s upcoming Third Malaysia Education Blueprint 2025-2036. 

 

It was clear from her utterances that Fadhlina, like Alice, is also lost and bewildered; for Fadhlina, in education land. She too does not care where she would be going as long as she could end up somewhere other than “here.”

 

            The “here” in Malaysian education is also not where most Malaysian parents want their children to end up. You do not need PISA tests and other expensive international surveys to know the obvious and alarming deterioration of Malaysian schools. 

 

Consider language skills. Few Malaysians, from ministers and professors down to school kids and social media commentators, could utter even a simple sentence in either complete Malay or English. At that forum Fadhlina displayed well and frequent this odious Malaysian habit. 

 

Canadians are also bilingual.  However, when Prime Minister Trudeau speaks in English, it is flawless; likewise when he reverts to French, the other official language. No irritating and incomprehensible jumbling of both languages. Malaysians however, sound like they are uttering pidgin English or the old Bazaar Malay. Only the Filipinos with their own English/Tagalog mishmash could outclass Malaysians. 

 

As for mathematical competency, a Malaysian official once chided me for praising Singapore’s then 5 percent annual GDP growth versus Malaysia’s 4. 

 

“What’s the big deal, it’s only a one percent difference!” 

 

If you are jogging at 4 mph and your companion is doing a brisk 5, yes, she is going faster by only 1 mph. Percentage-wise however, she is 25 percent faster. At the end of the day, you would be miles behind. The importance of numeracy skills and some quantitative comprehension! Sans both, you are but agak agak(wild guessing) and can be easily misled.

 

            As with destination, so it is with a problem. If you do not fully comprehend the problem, then you would easily be satisfied with any solution. Satisfied, yes; solving the problem, far from it!

 

Fadhlina, like her predecessors, remains blissfully ignorant of the core deficiencies of Malaysian schools. First and most glaring is that the problem is not with Malaysian schools per se rather those attended by Malay children. Children of the rich, Malays as well as non-Malays, have a cornucopia of excellent choices in expensive private schools. 

 

Chinese schools are also doing fine. No surprise that Malay parents are increasingly opting for that stream for their children, to the chagrin of Ketuanan Melayu (Malay-first) types. Sarawak is also opting out of the national policy by now teaching science and mathematics (STEM) in English. 

 

This illustrates the second problem. The “national” in national education is misleading. Instead, it caters only to Malays. 

 

Then there is the perennial ever-elusive goal of 60:40 percent ratio of “Science” versus “Arts” streaming. That had been the stated objective for decades. At least back then they took concrete steps, like building a new science block at Malay College and setting up many secondary science residential schools. 

 

Today we have gone away from teaching STEM in English except in Sarawak. Worse, we have the perversity of the so-called “science” of hadith and revealed knowledge muddying the issue. Labels are cheap, as well as easy to print and affix. Witness the current silly divisive controversy over halal ham sandwiches.

 

More important than silly streaming would be to ensure that all students have heightened science literacy and enhanced quantitative skills. If you have the latter, then you would not try to be pseudo accurate in quoting such nonsense as the current 50.83 percent achievement with science/arts streaming, as the minister did at that forum. Enhanced mathematical ability also means knowing the significance and precision of numbers and decimal points. 

 

 The government is confused over the role of religious schools. Should they be like missionary schools of yore and today’s church-affiliated American schools, or be seminaries to produce future ulama of which we already have a glut? Only a tiny portion, if any, of the students at the old mission schools or today’s American church-affiliated schools end up in the clergy. Further, what goes on in Malaysian Islamic schools is but indoctrination masquerading as education. 

 

National schools are determined to “out-Tahfriz” religious schools, and in the process driving out the few remaining non-Malays in that stream, further contributing to the segregation of the young. 

 

As for the forum’s theme of “Raising The Floor,” it is far more important to build a floor that is even, supportive, and on a strong foundation. Beyond that, help these youngsters aspire and reach their own heights. A raised but rickety floor only invites tragic accidents.