Archive for category Education
Quality, Quantity, and Equity in Malaysian Education #1
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, Education on Monday, 10 May 2010
By M. Bakri Musa
[First of Three Parts]
Quality Education and Economic Development
In referring to the low quality of our labor pool, the New Economic Model Report cites statistics showing that 80 percent of our workers have only SPM level (11 years) of schooling. That surprises me, not the figure rather the fact that the SPM is now viewed as inadequate.
That observation reflects more on the quality of our education system than it does of our workers. For had our education system maintained its quality, and today’s SPM is of the same caliber as the old Cambridge School Certificate “O” Level, then I would argue that our workers are among the most highly educated.
Members of the National Economic Action Council (they wrote the NEM Report) are old enough to appreciate that when they obtained their O-level certificate, they were in command of sufficient intellectual and other skills to prepare them well for life. The same cannot be said of today’s SPM, as the Report clearly implies.
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Why SUPP candidate Lau Hui Yew is like other Barisan Nasional Ministers and leaders who have no confidence in their own school system by sending their children to international schools or overseas?
[Speech (2) at the launching of the Rejang Park Operation Centre of the DAP Sibu by-election campaign on Friday, 7th May 2010]
Another headline in Borneo Post today is “Zahid: Vote for Hui Yew to be heard in Dewan Rakyat”.
My first reaction is one of great skepticism and to ask why the SUPP candidate Robert Lau Hui Yew is like other Barisan Nasional Ministers and leaders who have no confidence in their own school system by sending their children to international schools or overseas.
Will Hui Yew speak up in Parliament against the national educational system over which he, like other BN Ministers and leaders, have no confidence by not sending their own children to them?
DAP candidate for Sibu by-election Wong Ho Leng has five children, all in the local schools – three in secondary and two in primary.
I have been informed that Robert Lau2 has sent all his three children to the international school in Kuching. Read the rest of this entry »
Scholarships for top scorers
By Dr.Chris Anthony
Stretching to help fairly all who deserve
The government’s decision to spend RM1.24bil to award scholarships to 1,500 top SPM students may be laudable but spending such a hefty sum on a relatively small number of students to undertake their first degree programmes abroad is unwise. High performers must be rewarded appropriately but the money spent must be prudent to benefit as many as possible.
Why can’t our top scorers be sent to do their pre-university courses and basic degrees in local institutions? By sending the best to local universities, which cost much less, not only more students can be sponsored but at the same time also help improve the standards in our own local universities which is on the decline in recent years. How can we elevate our universities to the status of world renowned institutions like Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and many others, when we keep sending our best overseas? This would only boost the foreign universities at the expense of our own.
It must be borne in mind that high achieving students make up far less than 10% of students. The vast majority are average performers who should also be catered for adequately. There are also many who do badly or even fail their examinations and it is equally important to cater for the special needs of these category of students as well. Spending all we have on a few top students and neglecting the vast majority who obtain mediocre results will be detrimental to the nation. It will be this majority who are considered mediocre who will be form the bulk of the workforce in the future.
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The 200 top SPM students should all be given full pre-university and university scholarships to usher in a new era of meritocracy
Posted by Kit in Education, Muhyiddin Yassin on Saturday, 13 March 2010
Yesterday, the Education Ministry released the Top 10 students and the Top 10 Schools for Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) 2009 – with only two students and three schools coming from the 20 High Performance Schools announced by the Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in January this year.
But why just announce the Top 10 students and the Top 10 Schools for last year’s SPM?
I call on Muhyiddin, who is also Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Cabinet Committee on Human Resources, to announce the top 200 students for SPM last year and the Top 100 Schools for SPM 2009 as well.
It will be interesting to know whether all High Performance Schools announced by Muhyiddin come within the Top 100 Schools for SPM 2009.
However, what is more important is that the government should usher a new era of meritocracy by awarding full scholarships for both pre-university and university, whether local or foreign, studies to the top 200 top SPM students, regardless of race, religion or region.
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Top 10 students and Top 10 schools in SPM 2009 a slap-in-the face to Muhyiddin’s list of High Performance Schools
Posted by Kit in Education, Muhyiddin Yassin on Friday, 12 March 2010
The list of Top 10 students and Top 10 schools in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) 2009 is a slap-in-the-face to Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for his list of High-Performance Schools (HPS) announced at the end of January.
The two SPM 2009 lists have validated the criticisms leveled against Muhyiddin’s HPS list, that it is an insult not only to students and teachers from Sarawak and Sabah but also to their counterparts in Peninsular Malaysia when none of their schools was selected.
Congratulations to Gladys Tan Yee Kim of SMK Green Road, Kuching, the top SPM student in the country in SPM 2009 scoring 10A+s as well as the other nine SPM top scorers.
Gladys Tan has vindicated the honour and quest for excellence of Sarawakians by topping the national list.
However, out of the Top 10 SPM students, only two were from Muhyiddin’s list of HPS, namely second top scorer Grace Kiew Sze-Ern from SMK(P) Sri Aman, Petaling Jaya and fifth top scorer Syamilah Mahali from Kolej Tunku Kurshiah, Seremban.
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Towards A Developed Malaysia – Part 3
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, Education on Monday, 22 February 2010
By M. Bakri Musa
[Presented at the Third Annual Alif Ba Ta Forum, “1Malaysia Towards Vision 2020,” Rochester Institute of Technology, NY, December 5, 2009, organized by Kelab UMNO NY-NJ. The presentation can be viewed at www.youtube.com (search under “Bakri Musa RIT”) or through this link]
Encouraging Malays Entrepreneurs and Scientists
The Malaysia of today under the leadership of Tun Razak’s son is a very different country. With the overall elevation in the level of the education, the needs and aspirations of the citizens have also changed; the curve has shifted to the right. We have to respond to this new reality of higher needs and much greater aspirations.
Today our major dilemma is the lack of Malays in science and technology, as well as in business. Actually these are old dilemmas but because they have been incompetently handled, they are again resurfacing, over fifty years after independence.
I was young during Tun Razak’s time. Yes, the lack of Malays in science then was palpable, with fewer than a dozen Malay science graduates. The prevailing wisdom – and not just among non-Malays – was that we Malays did not have what it would take to handle science and mathematics.
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On “Singapore Maths” and world-class education
Posted by Kit in Azly Rahman, Education on Saturday, 20 February 2010
By Azly Rahman
The article below, from The Seattle Times and which was linked to the online publication of the National Educational Association (NEA) should be of interest to Malaysian educators teaching Mathematics.
Costructivism as a paradigm of teaching and learning has been around for quite some time and infused in many a school in the advanced countries. Constructivism is drawn from the work of Socrates, Piaget, and Brain Science theorists. It is essentially Deweyian in philosophy as well..
The superiority of the Singapore education system is something the Singaporeans have worked hard to build.
Essentially the Singapore Malays, arguably have learned the meaning of affirmative action and meritocracy well. The idea of “Mendaki” as a means to help the academically underachieving Malays in the city-state is admirable, perceived from an educational standpoint. Born in Alexander Road Singapore and growing up in Johor Bahru, I have always been fascinated by the way the Singaporeans run their city-state. As a teenager , I spend my weekends roaming the streets of Singapore, fascinated by the buildings, the food stalls, the bargain stores, the movie theaters, and how law is enforced.
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PhD student in USM who does not understand English or Malay!
Can you believe it? A PhD student in Universiti Sains Malaysia who cannot understand English or Malay!
What medium of instruction is the student using in USM?
Read the following Bernama report:
Iraqi Doctorate Student Charged With Reckless Driving
NIBONG TEBAL, 19 Feb (Bernama) — An Iraqi, who is taking a doctorate at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), was Friday charged in the Magistrate Court here with reckless driving and causing the death of a student at the university, Fadilah Abdul Halim, 27, last Thursday.
Hamood Sheehab Hamid, 45, is charged with committing the offence at the traffic light exit to USM, at Jalan Transkrian about 9.45am.
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Khaled should not turn the clock back but boldly go forward to foster the spirit of academic freedom among university lecturers and students
Posted by Kit in Education, Election, university on Sunday, 31 January 2010
Higher Education Minister Datuk Khaled Nordin should not turn the clock back but boldly go forward to foster the spirit of academic freedom among university lecturers and students by supporting University of Malaya Vice Chancellor Ghauth Jasmon’s handling of the campus polls controversy.
Khaled should not undermine Ghauth’s authority as UM VC by attacking or criticizing the latter’s decision to suspend the controversial campus election to allow an independent testing of the e-voting system as well as to investigate allegations of bias and partisanship of the deputy vice chancellor of student affairs (HEP) Azarae Idris.
There is talk that Khaled is so unhappy with Ghauth that moves are afoot to replace him with a new Vice Chancellor for University of Malaya.
Khaled should quash such talk and deny any such moves without any delay as any such arbitrary and high-handed Ministerial interference in university autonomy will have far-reaching consequences and bring to nought all recent efforts to restore University of Malaya’s status as one of the world’s Top 200 universities.
It is open secret that UMNO and UMNO Youth leaders were blatantly involved in the recent as well as previous campus elections, not only in University of Malaya but also in other public universities – not only directly but also through their proxies in the various university administrations.
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Khaled – Hands off! Respect and uphold University of Malaya Vice Chancellor Ghauth Jasmon’s decision on moratorium and suspension of campus polls
Hands off! Respect and uphold the University of Malaya Vice Chancellor Ghauth Jasmon’s decision on the moratorium and suspension of University of Malaya campus polls.
This is the message all Malaysians hoping to see the restoration of academic freedom and excellence in our public universities, particularly University of Malaya, want to send to the Higher Education Minister Datuk Khaled Nordin.
Khaled has already jumped into the campus fray by questioning the judgment of the University of Malaya Vice Chancellor in suspending the campus elections and his decision to resolve the campus poll controversy, viz:
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appointment of an IT consultant by the pro-students group to test the e-voting system – a re-election to be held if it is proven that elements of fraud or abuse exist.
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investigate allegations that deputy vice-chancellor of student affairs (HEP) Azarae Idris misused university funds to quarantine HEP sponsored candidates at a hotel, the night before nomination.
I call on Khaled to endorse the decision and judgment of Gauth Jasmon, taking into account legitimate complaints about the campus electoral process.
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Which were the top 20 schools in the early years of the nation?
(How many of the 20 high-performance schools picked by Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin would have been your choice?
May be, lets open a debate as to which were the top 20 “high-performance” schools when the country achieved Merdeka in 1957 and became Malaysia in 1963, how many of them are in Muhyiddin’s Top 20 schools and why the rest have lost out in the placings?
Reproduced below is one view by Lee Wei Lian in Malaysian Insider)
The tragic tale of Malaysian education
by Lee Wei Lian
Malaysian Insider
January 27 2010
What do Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Malaysia’s founding father Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia’s second richest man T. Ananda Krishnan and YTL chairman Tan Sri Francis Yeoh have in common?
The answer: all four studied at once famous schools that are now glaringly absent from the list of 20 high performance schools recently announced by the government.
Victoria Institution (Ananda, Yeoh), St John’s Institution (Najib), Penang Free School (Tunku Abdul Rahman) and others like Malacca High School and St Michael’s Institution are all storied schools that have been allowed to fall behind until they are no longer counted as among the elite educational institutions in the country.
Just imagine if Eton College in the UK or Raffles Institution in Singapore was not recognised as one of the top schools in their respective countries.
That is the equivalent of what has befallen what were once the most respected schools in Malaysia. Today, they do not even rate a mention on a list of the top 20 high performance schools.
It is a crying shame as these schools produced many leaders that were influential in the development of Malaysia and to a lesser extent even in Singapore. Read the rest of this entry »
The DAP Ipoh Resolution
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Corruption, Crime, DAP, Economics, Education, environment, Finance, Good Governance, nation building on Monday, 18 January 2010
The DAP Ipoh Resolution:
MUAFAKAT TRANSFORMASI MALAYSIA
(adopted by the DAP National Conference 2010 in Ipoh on Sunday, 17th January 2010)
PREAMBLE
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That the nation is waiting for a profound change is beyond doubt and that it is now a fact that the government-of-the-day is incapable of changing the intolerably arbitrary, self-serving, unjust, cruel and corrupt system of governance;
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That the world does not stand still to wait for Malaysia, and we risk watching Asia changing and its economy growing not as an active participant but as bystander if we do not catch up fast;
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That to save Malaysian governance from further deterioration, the economy from further plunder, and the people from further injustices is a shared imperative;
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That the Democratic Action Party (DAP) therefore, in partnership with other Pakatan Rakyat parties and in cooperation with civil society, is determined to transform Malaysia through a new muafakat (consensus)
- by reversing distortions and corruptions of the Constitution, the rule of law and the system of governance,
- by restoring mutual respect amongst Malaysia’s multiethnic, multicultural and multi-religious peoples,
- by renewing trust in public institutions and in the security services,
- by rejuvenating the economy
- by conserving the environment,
- by revamping the education system, and
- by re-establishing hope in our future as a nation;
Why Muhyiddin go to UK to urge the return of the “best brains” while completely blind, unconcerned and insensitive to the loss of “best brains” to neighbouring Singapore or the 300,000 Malaysians who emigrated since last general election?
Posted by Kit in Education, Muhyiddin Yassin on Friday, 15 January 2010
Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin went to London to urge the “best brains” working abroad to return home and drive the country’s new economic model, but he had been thunderously silent in the past five days at the news from across the causeway that two Malaysians topped the 2009 Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education (Ordinary Level) Examination.
The question Muhyiddin must answer is why go all the way to the United Kingdom to urge the return of the “best brains” while he is completely blind, unconcerned and insensitive to the loss of the “best brains” to neighbouring Singapore or the 300,000 Malaysians who emigrated since last general election?
On Monday, it was reported in Singapore that Lai Kai Rou, 16, from Selangor, emerged tops in the island republic, scoring 10A1s. She studied at CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’ School (SNGS) which also topped Singapore schools with 14 of the 42 island-republic’s best scorers being its students, scoring 9 A1s.
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Enhancing The Role of Private Sector in Education – Part 6
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, Education on Monday, 4 January 2010
By M. Bakri Musa
[Last of Six Parts]
[In the preceding essays, I discussed the rationale and benefits of enhancing private sector participation in education, surveyed the various models in the rest of world, and summarized the current state of affairs in Malaysia. This last piece is my prescription for private sector participation at the tertiary level.]
As with schools, opportunities for private sector participation at the post-secondary level are also endless. At one end would be the completely independent proprietary universities free of governmental control except those that govern any private enterprise. At the other would be the various public-private partnerships.
The advantage of being independent is just that. As Thomas Kealey, head of the only independent private university in Britain, the University of Buckingham, observed, “Every other university … works solely to government targets. The government gives them money, and therefore they do whatever the government wants. …. [O]ur economic success is determined by our students’ satisfaction. The other universities’ success is determined by how much they please the government.”
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Enhancing The Role of Private Sector in Education – Part 5
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, Education on Monday, 28 December 2009
By M. Bakri Musa
[Fifth of Six Parts]
[In the preceding four parts, I discussed the rationale and benefits of enhancing private sector participation in education, surveyed the various models in the rest of world, and summarized the current state of affairs in Malaysia. This fifth part contains my specific prescription for private sector participation at the pre-schools and schools, while the last (and sixth) part, for tertiary level.]
Private Sector Participation in Preschools and Schools
Private sector participation at the preschool level is already robust; there is not much more that can be done to increase that. However, the glaring deficiencies must be remedied. One, these private preschools cater only to those who can afford them. No surprise there as they are profit-making ventures. Two, there is minimal regulatory oversight; it is strictly a case of buyer (or more correctly, parents) beware.
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Enhancing The Role of Private Sector in Education – Part 4
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, Education on Tuesday, 22 December 2009
[Fourth of Six Parts]
[In the first three parts I discussed the rationale and advantages of private sector participation in education, and reviewed the current experience in Malaysia. In this fourth essay, I survey the experiences elsewhere for useful lessons that could be relevant To Malaysia.]
The Experiences Elsewhere
In formulating a policy that would envisage a greater role for the private sector, it is worthwhile to review the experiences elsewhere.
Private Schools
In America, everyone is entitled to free publicly-funded education from K-12 years. In fact schooling for this age group is compulsory. While the government is not directly involved in preschool there are many publicly-funded programs targeted for children of disadvantaged families.
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Malaysia current ills and future solution?
Posted by Kit in Education, Letters, nation building on Wednesday, 16 December 2009
By Michael Yeo
There are reports of mass migration of Malaysian to overseas, and the Malaysian per capita income is decreasing. The country economy lacks foreign investments due to incorrect policies taken in 1989. The Asian Tigers – Thailand, China, Taiwan, S Korea, Japan, and Vietnam is all vying for foreign investments and aggressively pursuing value-added export market. With the potential oil production in Cambodia from 2011 (estimated), Malaysia will be relegated to the bottom in the ladder. Globalisation does not discriminate against any nation, but they will shy away from countries where her Governments have acted against the flow of capital. The oil asset is fast dwindling in Malaysia.
Malaysia is going backward; this is not a surprised as bad policies in educations, corruptions, cronyism, political systems that give rise to self imposed racism are all present in this dysfunctional state. Let me elaborate:
Present political divides
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Greatest disappointment that Najib failed to “walk the talk” with concrete action whether on recognition of Unified Examination Certificate or institutionalize government funding of Independent Chinese Secondary Schools
Posted by Kit in Education, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 15 December 2009
Yesterday, the Chinese press gave front page headline treatment to the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s message for the 90th anniversary celebrations of the Chong Hwa Independent High School in Kuala Lumpur, but this has been replaced with deep disappointment and sadness that the Prime Minister has again failed to “walk the talk” like his “1Malaysia. People First. Performance Now” motto, his pledge to front-line transparency and to combat corruption.
Najib’s message for the Chong Hwa Independent High School 90th anniversary celebrations souvenir publication stands out as the best message ever given by any Prime Minister in the past five decades, crediting the Chinese Independent Secondary Schools as “important national assets” not only of the Chinese in Malaysia but of the country and extolling their contributions to nation building particularly in human resource development.
This has raised sky-high expectations that Najib would announce concrete actions to “walk the talk” of his message and it was a great disappointment all round that he attended the Chong Hwa Independent High School 90th anniversary dinner last night completely empty-handed.
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Enhancing The Role of Private Sector in Education – Part 3
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, Education on Monday, 14 December 2009
[Third of Six Parts]
[In the preceding two parts I discussed the rationale for private sector participation in education. It would lessen the load on the public sector thus enabling it to focus more on a smaller population. The nimbleness of the private enables it to meet the rapidly changing and necessarily diverse needs of increasingly sophisticated Malaysians. Our public sector institutions are tightly controlled and heavily micromanaged from the center. As such they are unlikely to lead us to excellence, making it an imperative to nurture private institutions. In this third part I examine the role of the private as it is currently. MBM]
The Current Situation
Currently private sector participation is limited to the polar ends of the education spectrum. The private sector has unbridled access to preschool, and increasing liberalization at the post-secondary level. In between (Years 1-11), private sector participation is extremely limited and tightly controlled.
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Enhancing The Role of Private Sector in Education – Part 2
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, Education on Thursday, 10 December 2009
[Second of Six Parts]
[In Part One, I emphasized the importance of getting the widest possible input in formulating a policy. Then when the policy is adopted, to start with small and manageable pilot projects to iron out the inevitable kinks, get feed back from the participants, and strengthen the weaknesses, and make the needed modifications. In this second part I discussed the rationale for private sector participation in education. MBM].
The Rationale For Private Sector Participation
Education, specifically the language of instruction in its institutions, is a highly politically-charged issue in Malaysia, as with any plural society. America for example still grapples with how best to integrate through its schools the children of minorities. Until recently Canada had to contend with its own English-French language rivalry.
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