Education

Over to you, Khaled and Hishammuddin

By Kit

November 23, 2008

Hi, i am student from Penang … can help us check for second semester PTPTN loan when can issue? now already mid semester. Dunno why PTPTN still like this “late issue the loan”, by this was make a lot of student feel suffer in finance. i already send mail to PTPTN, but no have any respond. i hope can get a good news as fast as possible. thank you for your help.

I received this email seven hours ago from a student in Penang crying for help as PTPTN is so inefficient and inconsiderate when PTPTN loan is still not disbursed although it is now mid-semester.

I have put up this email hoping that the Higher Education Minister Datuk Khaled Nordin would be as Internet-savvy and blog-sensitive as his predecessor Datuk. Mustapha Mohamed, as Mustapha would respond promptly to complaints touching on his Ministry on my blog.

Can Khaled shake up the PTPTN and release all the outstanding second semester loans within 24 hours or at most 48 hours?

There is another reason I have put up the email – to show the atrocious English standard of our students.

I do not blame the student who wrote the email but the national education system. If any Cabinet Minister must be blamed, it would have to be the Education Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and his predecessors!

I believe that the English in this email is probably the average standard of our present crop of students and the worst would be horror tales of total incoherence and incomprehension in the English language.

If Education Ministers have to be assessed professionally, one key performance index will be the attainment of English language by our students – and Hishammuddin would have failed badly in such a KPI assessment.

There is no shortage of formula to restore English mastery or at least fluency among students in Malaysia but only whether there is political will and professional commitment by the Education Minister and the Barisan Nasional Cabinet.

Over to you Khaled and Hishammuddin!