No News Is Bad News
For image info, go to https://sea.mashable.com/life/22740/malaysian-brain-drain-gets-worse-with-113-million-moving-to-singapore-in-2022 (Malaysian Brain Drain Gets Worse: 1.13 Million Have Moved to S’pore As of 2022)
For decades Malaysian students raised not prepared for the future
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3, 2023: The news headline in Singapore’s media read: “Changes to Malaysia’s education system raise fears that students are not prepared for future”.
That headline is a grave understatement. Perhaps, the media applied diplomat consideration.
Malaysian students, for decades have not been prepared for the future, not because they lack talent but because of an eductaion system and policy that ignore meritocracy.
Education in Malaysia has been politicised since Merdeka (Independence) 1957 and continues to be so today.
Malaysia’s strive for developed nation status has been derailed by politicians who care not for the welfare and interests of the rakyat dan negara (people and country) but for political expediency to remain ion power.
Past Malay leaders continmue to play the race card in education to manipulate the majority of Malays to continue supporting them.
Over the past decades, the brain drain has damaged the country’s socio-economic progress to raise Malaysia’s manuifactoring sector to higher levels, especially in high-tech innovation and production.
Can those talented Malaysian students, who were forced by the education system and policies to pursue tertiary edication overseas, really be balmed for abandoning their birth country because they are doing so well and successful?
No News Is Bad News reproduces below a slew of stories that exposes Malaysia’s failing and detriorating educvation system and policies:
Changes to Malaysia’s education system raise fears that students are not prepared for future
The Dual-Language Programme is being reduced or scrapped altogether in several government schools. PHOTO: REUTERS
Malaysia Correspondent
UPDATED
KUALA LUMPUR – Changes to Malaysia’s education system which will see more primary and secondary students return to studying science and mathematics in Malay instead of English are raising the ire of parents and observers.
They say such a move will not enhance the employability of students in an era of globalisation.
The Dual-Language Programme (DLP), which has since 2016 allowed the two core subjects to be taught in English, is being reduced or scrapped altogether in several government schools, according to education watchdog Parent Action Group for Education (Page).
“DLP schools and classes are being eradicated gradually and ever so discreetly,” Page chairman Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim told The Straits Times, claiming that there is demand for the programme from students and parents.
She said this was based on information the group gathered from parents, parent-teacher associations, as well as the Education Ministry.
According to Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek, the DLP is being phased out in some schools as they do not meet the ministry’s requirements for the programme, namely that their Malay language results must meet the national average grade or be higher.
“Schools must meet certain conditions to conduct the programme, especially the requirement that the students’ Bahasa Melayu (Malay) results are as good, if not better, than the ministry’s target,” she said in May, as reported by The Star.
Schools also have to meet the target for a number of years consecutively. “This is where most schools fail,” she said, explaining that half of public primary and secondary schools did not make the mark.
As at June 30, 2023, fewer than a quarter of schools nationwide conducted the DLP, or 2,428 schools out of a total of 10,233. About 460,000 students were enrolled in the programme, representing about 9 per cent of the total student population in primary and secondary schools.
Instead of getting rid of the DLP, Datin Noor Azimah said the focus should instead be on raising the level of Malay proficiency.
“Unfortunately, the emphasis appears to be to attack students who are English-language proficient,” she said.
Already Primary 1 pupils are put through a Malay-language assessment, and those found to be weak in Malay are advised to join a non-DLP class.
Ms Noor Azimah also alleged that parents and students are pressured by schools to opt for non-DLP classes and that DLP may also be abolished in all public boarding secondary schools in 2024, save for the two top schools, Malay College Kuala Kangsar and Tunku Kurshiah College.
A parent, who only wanted to be known as Madam Aida, said that parents at her child’s school in Kuala Lumpur were initially assured by the headmistress that the school only taught maths and science in English. Her child, who is in P1, was also given maths and science textbooks in English.
“A few weeks later, the textbooks were taken back, and my child was forced to learn maths and science in Malay. We feel that our children’s rights have been taken away, and that this was a decision made suddenly in haste with no proper planning,” she told ST.
“Changes are always being made to our education system, making the kids a lab experiment. I just want my child to learn maths and science in English,” said the 49-year-old homemaker.
In response to queries from ST, the Education Ministry said: “There is no directive nor is there any move to reduce or remove DLP classes from schools in Malaysia by the (Education Ministry) other than a directive to ensure that the implementation of DLP is in line with the existing legislation and the National Education Policy.”
Contrary to the Page chairman’s claim that there is a demand for DLP classes, the ministry said a few schools applied for the closure of such classes “because there are no applications from students to join the programme”.
Page believes that reducing or scrapping the DLP could impact the government’s aim of producing more students well-versed in science, technology, engineering and mathematics – or Stem subjects – to meet future needs for such professionals.
Car maker Tesla is establishing a regional headquarters in Malaysia, while spacecraft manufacturer SpaceX has begun providing Internet services in the country, particularly in remote areas. Amazon is also investing RM25.5 billion (S$7.42 billion) in Malaysia by 2037, with plans to develop a “cloud region” for data storage and other cloud-based services.
Malaysia’s education policy has long been seen as a tool to advance political influence, with issues such as the medium of instruction and vernacular schools often becoming political hot potatoes. Changes are commonly made to the system with every incoming education minister.
For example, the long-running debate on using English at national schools was first sparked in 2003, when then-premier Mahathir Mohamed introduced the use of English to teach maths and science amid concerns over the poor standard of English.
In 2009, then-education minister Muhyiddin Yassin decided that the English-medium education policy would be phased out by 2012, saying that the policy was not working. The move was seen as an attempt to win back the rural Malay and minority votes.
In 2016, the DLP was introduced in several schools under the Najib Razak government, but with little fanfare.
The current government of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has also announced plans to introduce a new module in schools to teach the 40 hadiths or sayings of Prophet Muhammad, drawing criticisms from non-Muslims.
Analysts say this move appears to be aimed at Malay-Muslim voters, whose support the unity government is hoping to reclaim after August’s state elections showed voters switching from Barisan Nasional (BN), a key partner in the ruling coalition, to the opposition Perikatan Nasional (PN) led by the fundamentalist Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS).
“He (Anwar) is trying to implement actions and policies that make him look more Islamic and appeal to the so-called Islamic vote or the PAS vote. He knows that he lost the Malay vote in the last general elections and the six state elections, so he is trying to reclaim the Malay vote and he thinks that the easiest way to do it is to play the Islamic card,” Asian Studies Professor James Chin from the University of Tasmania told ST.
Mr Azmil Tayeb, visiting senior fellow at ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, told ST that removing the DLP will not have much of an impact on attracting Malay votes and may be counterproductive in urban areas as it is popular with urban Malay parents.
Meanwhile, the government’s move to introduce the Hadith 40 syllabus could be “a start in countering the hardline Islamic discourse propagated by PN”, said Mr Azmil. But he added that “a lot still needs to be done when it comes to spreading ... the counter-narrative among the Malay society.”
Critics say that Datuk Seri Anwar should be reforming the education system rather than further Islamising government schools.
Political observer and former diplomat Dennis Ignatius wrote on his website on Aug 30 that the country’s education policy should focus more on preparing students for the future.
“The general conclusion among educationists is that too much time is currently being devoted to religious instruction at the expense of subjects more relevant to the job market and to nation-building. As it is, more time is spent on religious education than on science or maths, for example,” he wrote.
More secondary school leavers in Malaysia don't plan to continue studying, study shows
Some are wondering if the trend of young people turning their backs on tertiary education has contributed to Malaysia's manpower shortage. PHOTO: THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
Malaysia Correspondent
PUBLISHED
AUG 28, 2022, 8:00 PM SGT
KUALA LUMPUR - Muhammad Kamal will be done with secondary school soon. But instead of going to college, the 17-year-old has a different plan - to work full time on his YouTube channel.
"Everyone's saying the only way to make money is by getting tertiary education. I respect that, but I'm already making about RM2,000 (S$620) in passive income from occasionally sharing clips of me gaming on my channel," he told The Straits Times (ST).
Nearly 15,000 students did not sit national exam in Malaysia: Education Ministry
SPM, or the Malaysian Certificate of Education, is a national exam taken by all Form 5 students in Malaysia. PHOTO: PEXELS
UPDATED
ALOR SETAR - Malaysia’s Education Ministry will look into why 14,858 first-time candidates were absent from the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) 2022 examination.
Noting that the absent candidates made up 3.8 per cent of the total of 388,832 candidates, Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek said the ministry is looking into the right mechanism to resolve the issue.
SPM, or the Malaysian Certificate of Education, is a national exam taken by all Form 5 students in Malaysia. It is the equivalent of the GCE O-level exam in Singapore.
Ms Fadhlina said there could be several reasons that may have prompted the students to give the exam a miss.
“The ministry is looking into the factors so that we can identify (the reasons) and stage a necessary intervention to ensure better attendance in coming years,” she said.
Speaking to reporters in Jalan Kuala Kedah on Sunday, she said a trend compared with the previous year can be concluded only when the findings are ready.
“There are various categories of candidates, such as those from Education Ministry schools, private candidates and others. Hence, we need a proper breakdown to identify why this is happening,” she said.
Ms Fadhlina said more than 90 per cent of SPM candidates were eligible to obtain their certificates, adding that the rate is higher than in previous years.
She said there was no need to release the rankings for the best-performing schools for SPM 2022.
It was reported that the 14,858 first-time candidates did not turn up for at least six subjects.
According to the ministry’s analysis, the number of absent candidates in 2021 was 10,681, or 2.7 per cent of the 392,837 registered candidates. THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
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