Zan Azlee
The Malaysian Insider
16 January 2015
I have always wondered why parents (and even many students) in Malaysia are obsessed about getting into the right schools so that their children can get the best education.
They pressure their children to get good grades so they can get into schools like fully-residential schools (SBP) and MRSMs (Mara Junior College).
Some even go to the extent of faking their addresses so their children can get into their choice of non-boarding schools that are not in their living vicinity.
Even my parents did the same for my brothers and I. They didn’t fake our address, but they did make sure we got into the “best” schools – I even had to go to a fully-residential school.
Why I’m raising this issue is not because I think parents shouldn’t want their children to go good schools. Of course they should, and so should their children.
My real intention is to ask why there should even be a difference in the quality of schools all around the country. Shouldn’t public education be equal and standard for all?
Why is it that the best teachers are sent only to certain schools like the bestaris, SBPs and MRSMs instead of being spread throughout the country?
Why are only certain schools given better allocations to develop their infrastructure and resources for the benefit of the students and teachers instead of every single school?
Why is PPSMI (Science and Mathematics in English) stopped in public schools but the IGCSE (Cambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education) offered in MRSMs?
I completed my Form 5 in an SBP and every single one of us had to take the English 1119 paper (GCE O-level English) and two years of preparation classes for it.
None of my friends who were in the ordinary public secondary schools had the option to take that paper in school (they were, of course, able to take it outside privately).
So why is the education system in Malaysia in such a state that there is a double standard for different schools? Is it because there is a double standard for different Malaysians?
And who actually determines the education policy for the country? Does the Education Ministry do it on its own or is the public given a chance to express itself?
Education is an important element in the development and progression of the country. It is where the youth are enhanced so that the future is determined.
And that responsibility lies on the adults of today and the elected leaders of today. So I say that there should be equal education for all in Malaysia.
People in Ranau, Sabah should have the same quality of education as those in Sarikei, Sarawak and even those in Arau, Perlis and Segamat, Johor. Nobody gets left behind.
Who are we to determine who gets more education than another? But now, yet another questions arises: are we capable of maintaining the same level of education consistently throughout? – January 16, 2015.
#1 by boh-liao on Sunday, 18 January 2015 - 8:06 pm
Our education system has diversity mah
It’s also a political tool in our divide-&-rule policy, as well as race-based
Malay students hv a wide range of schools n education paths 2 choose, blessed them
#2 by Justice Ipsofacto on Monday, 19 January 2015 - 8:26 am
Equal education, you wanna?
Ho Ho Ho Ho. Tht means sedition and also threatening the position of islam jenis umno and the special privilege status umnoptras.
#3 by waterfrontcoolie on Monday, 19 January 2015 - 3:04 pm
The leadership in their attempt to hook-wink the general public had decided that it is okay to lead them to nowhere! After all those who cannot think beyond their immediate surrounding are easier to control and be led by their nose. To create competition would mean creating the coming generations to come; to question the rationality of their policies which openly condone bankrupting the nation by all means whether legal or illegal [which can always be decided by the courts!] Since, the basic objective is to create obedience without questioning; today’s policy of separating the population through fears of one’s shadow is the most effective way of mind control. By the time the general population awake to the issue, well they will have their nests all built up in some western nations! With cash pouring into their nations, the West will forget about democracy, rights of the public etc issues they will raise in order to keep their weapon industries going! So education policy will be preserved as it is, as long as the main objectives meet the purpose of the power of the day.