The latest government research has confirmed 2012 PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) and World Bank report on “Malaysia Economic Monitor: High-Performing Education” that Malaysia will not produce the highly-skilled workers for the country to become a high-income nation unless there is an educational transformation in Malaysia in pursuit of excellence and not just mediocrity.

Lee Chee Sung, the adviser of Institute of Labour Market Information and Analysis (ILMIA) – which comes under the direct purview of the Ministry of Human Resources – said at the launch of the official ILMIA portal in Kuala Lumpur yesterday that although more than 400,000 job opportunities were created last year, Malaysia is still not a high income nation because it lacks highly skilled workers.

At the same function, the Human Resources Minister Datuk Richard Riot Jaem acknowledged that at the moment, about 28 per cent out of the 12.7 million strong labour force in the country is made up of high-skilled workers and the government’s target is to bring the number of high-skilled workers up to 50 per cent of the total workforce by 2020.

However, both the two important international education benchmarks – 2011 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the 2012 PISA – have shown that Malaysia is doing a poor job in developing the nation’s human capital although it is a fundamental driver of economic growth. Read the rest of this entry »