by Richard Teo
Make no mistake. Contrary to what our DPM said in NST on 10th August, our country’s education is one big flop. Najib would be deluding Malaysians to say that the education system was a big success and attribute this success to his father.
Tun Razak, the father of Najib was the culprit responsible for the current malaise facing the present education system. As the Education Minister, he abolished the English medium of education and introduced the Bahasa Melayu medium. In one stupendous decision his action caused the loss of one generation of English-speaking students.
Prior to the abolishment of the English medium of education we were the envy of many countries in Asia. Foreign tourists who went to the most remotest part of our country were pleasantly surprised that practically everyone they met could converse in the
Queen’s language. That was in the early fifties.
Today, even top government civil servants and the judiciary can hardly string two words of English. Is this how we define success in our education system? If this is Najib’s definition of success then either he is blind to the pathetic state of the education system or he is totally oblivious to what is happening in the country.
On reflection it would be fair to say that the failure of the education system gave a life -line to vernacular schools.
Prior to the change in the medium of education from English to Bahasa Melayu, vernacular schools were closing down for lack of student enrolment. Slowly but surely many of the vernacular schools were decimated.
However to be fair it was not the change in the medium of instruction that caused the popularity of vernacular schools. It was the slow and not subtle degeneration of the National Schools to religious schools that caused the mass exodus of Chinese and
Indians to their respective vernacular schools.
Today, remnants of the failure of our education remains like a sore thumb.Teachers and headmasters of one race dominate every school. Not ordinary teachers but staunch religious teachers who never miss an opportunity to extol the virtues of their religion.
Every morning and every recess, prayers are recited and non-Muslims students are expected to tolerate such feverish display of religiosity.
Today, our education system churns out 80,000 unemployed graduates. All of them bear living testimony of a failed education system. And yet our DPM has the gall to say that our education system is a big success. Wake up Najib. No matter what yardstick you use, the education system is a big failure.
#1 by akarmalaysian on Tuesday, 14 August 2007 - 2:47 pm
lets face it…english has always been the international language in most parts of the world.and its even true how our education system is deteriorating as years go by.our government’s priority doesnt really reflect on academic wise in getting top students into our own universities…in fact the government has really wasted tons of money on making sure wat ‘kind’ of people should go into universities in their agenda.look at all the scholar fundings the government has been providing to these people.it has been the same all these while thruout the years.we hv so many universities and none of them can make it to the top 500?thats really quite a feat.but as usual some stupid ministers will come up with watever craps to counter all these degraded situations.our government is never able to take any constructive criticism…becos the leaders in this government is too thick skinned and knw no shame in the things they do.
#2 by buntal on Monday, 27 August 2007 - 11:29 am
The education system in Malaysia is so weak that it produces over 18,000 unemployed graduates most from the public higher institutions. I was so surprised that even after 11 years of primary and secondary education, most students still can’t get the basic subject-verb agreement right and the lecturers need to teach them like an English teacher. The subject on Communications Skill which I am sure included in every tertiary level course becomes an English intensive class. The factor leads to high rates of unemployed graduates is lack of communication skills though their CGPA is superb!
#3 by kerishamuddinitis on Sunday, 11 November 2007 - 6:29 pm
I just read the ‘exam cheating’ cases on malaysiatoday – I am a bit slow on such matters but, my god, if it is indeed happening on the scale that the postings seem to suggest, then forget about ‘overhauling the education system.’ That is going to do jack-s**t for our students. There needs to be a total overhaul of our value system as well as the parties responsible for running this country.
To my Malay brethren, if you cannot see how this (if indeed it IS happening) will eventually destroy any hope for REAL and EFFECTIVE progress of Malays in the next 50 years, but instead choose to ignore or treat this as the typical non-Malay propaganda/accusations, then consider the following:
1. in the Malay-medium SRJK’s and SMK’s, Malays make up the bulk of the students by virture of being (i) 60% of the population, and (ii) having a greater rate of population increase, than non-Malays
2. most non-Malays are opting out of Malay-medium SRJK’s and SMK’s. especially Chinese where the Chinese-medium schools are known for their almost near-obsession with acadamic performance
3. most non-Malays already plan for the children to go from SMK’s straight into private institutions. I am not saying there’s no cheating at these institutions but at least if discovered, appropriate action will be taken to protect the reputation of the institution and the value of their academic performance and qualification, not ignored, pooh-poohed or swept under the carpets of officialdom and ‘race interests.’
4. all who can afford it (both Malays and non-Malays alike) have taken their children out of mainstream SRJK’s and SMK’s, and sent their children to private schools.
So, it is not diffcoult to imagine what will happen to the next 2 generations of our students, both Malays and non-Malays alike BUT, the fact is more Malays than non-Malays will suffer the consequences.
I am not a Malay, but humour me and allow me to address you as my brethren because under the skin, we all have white flesh and red blood and deep down, we are all good, have sincere intentions and can live in peace, harmony and shared vision. My brethren, do what the Malay parent did (wrote a letter to RPK to expose this) and arrest this before it is too late. I am a parent myself, and if my kids cheated in their exams, and I knew about it, I would have knocked their blocks off. This is not about RACE but about doing what is RIGHT, and it is all the more urgent for Malays to insist that the powers-that-be do what is RIGHT for the FUTURE of ALL, ESPECIALLY Malay, students. God bless you and give you the wisdom to see the issue and courage to arrest it.