Archive for category Education
Government should respect PAGE and empower parents to decide whether to use English to teach/learn maths and science in primary/secondary schools
Posted by Kit in Education, Parliament on Monday, 7 December 2009
During the 2010 budget debate on the Education Ministry late this evening, I called on the government to respect the Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) and to empower parents to decide whether they want their children to use English to teach/learn mathematics and science in primary and secondary schools.
I reiterated the DAP stand that maths and science should be taught in the mother tongue or home language in Std. One and spoke on the decline in mastery of the English language by Malaysian students, all the way to the university level.
The government had been talking about the importance of ensuring fluency and proficiency of English students, especially university students, but little had been achieved going by the employers’ complaints about the poor English command of graduates.
This has undermined Malaysia’s international competitiveness as English is an international language and a language of competition in the world arena. Read the rest of this entry »
Enhancing The Role of the Private Sector in Education
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, Education on Thursday, 3 December 2009
[First of Six Parts]
Introductory Remarks
In the proposed Tenth Malaysia Plan scheduled to be unveiled next year (2010), the government will again re-commit to develop human resources through improving our education system. We have heard all these before, but the twist this time is that the government will actively engage the private sector.
I applaud this. There are many avenues for private sector involvement in education at all levels, either independently or in a variety of public-private partnerships (PPP).
Two points are worth noting as Malaysia embarks on this endeavor. The first is that there are already many models of private sector involvement in education throughout the developed and developing world. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. All we have to do is study these existing models, ascertain their strengths and weaknesses, and then adopt with suitable modifications the ones that would best suit our needs. Read the rest of this entry »
Only 5.7 Per Cent Of Year Six Students Skilled At Problem Solving
Bernama
November 19, 2009 16:39 PM
PUTRAJAYA, Nov 19 (Bernama) — The education ministry’s first Aptitude Test for Year Six students during their UPSR exams has shown that only 5.7 per cent (29,084 students) out of 509,885 pupils are skilled at problem solving and decision making, and only 34.34 per cent (175,101) in skilled thinking.
Education Director-General Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd Dom This said today that this indicated that the children needed more training on problem-solving and decision-making.
Speaking at a press conference here on Thursday, he explained that the Aptitude Test was divided into two dimensions, namely Skilled Thinking and Problem Solving and Decision-Making . Read the rest of this entry »
Single stream schooling: The bad and ugly side
Posted by Kit in Azly Rahman, Education, nation building on Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Written by Dr Azly Rahman
Edited by Helen Ang
for Center for Policy Initiatives
‘Ideas move nations but indoctrinations remove intelligence’.
According to government figures, only 7 percent of students in national schools are non-Malays. Parents fear sending their children from their past experience of the government indoctrinating young minds in the guise of an educational setting. Inciting racial sentiments in the classroom and boot camps (BTN, National Service, 1Malaysia) is in fact a big business nowadays.
Language issues come to mind as we speak about identity formation, befitting the notion of “language as culture,” and “culture as the habits we acquire and the tools we use in a house we inhabit in order to create our realties.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Form Six class unfair treatment
Letter by citizen leong
A new system has recently been implemented in all schools with Form Six classes throughout the country. All Lower Six classes from 2009 will have to stay back until 4pm. This new system started in my school in early July.
I found out from the teachers that this batch (2009/2010) was used to try out the suitability of the semester-based system to be implemented in schools in the future. Unfortunately for us, our exams are still not semester-based. Staying back till 4pm means we, Lower Six students will not have a chance to participate in the extra-curricular activities as all the club and uniformed body meetings are held after 1pm. What about our co-curriculum marks? We were told that 10% of the overall criteria to enter local universities is from our involvement in co-curricular activities. Before this new system was implemented, we all could go for our co-curricular activities. With the new system in place, we are forced to stay back and could not involve ourself in such activities as the timing will clash with us as most activities are held after school. While co-curricular activities make up 10% of our total STPM grades, I strongly believe there must be other alternatives. I don’t think a person who has four distinctions, but without any co-curricular achievements will be selected to enter a local university. So, why should we stay until 4 o’clock when the things we are doing now will not contribute any marks to our STPM?
Read the rest of this entry »
Higher education: The worst aspect of policy discrimination of private universitie
By Dr. Lim Teck Ghee, Director CPI
Where is the public money for R&D going?
The following recent article caught my attention: “Universiti Malaysia Pahang has invested RM5 million in a state-of-the-art central laboratory that will focus on developmental research and industrial collaborations …. On financial grants for researchers, Prof Daing Nasir [Vice Chancellor] said they were entitled to a sum of up to RM40,000.” (The Star, 5 November 2009)
Whilst UMP is to be congratulated for having secured generous public funding, the article also raises a number of questions that are of interest to the public in view of the recent concerns raised by the Auditor General’s report focusing on irregularities in the procurement process and supply of equipment at illogically high prices.
These questions include: Read the rest of this entry »
Marina, you’re no bumi
KUCHING – For 17 years, Marina Undau lived a life of a child growing into a young adult.
School, her family and friends were a central part of her existence. She dreamt of doing her parents proud by furthering her education in a university and eventually getting a good job.
SPM came and went, and the 18-year-old science stream student of SMK Simanggang did well, scoring 9As and 1B last year.
But then she had a rude shock.
Not eligible
The education system said she was not eligible to enroll in a matriculation course, a prelude to varsity and a degree. The reason? She was, it seemed, not a bumiputra.
Read the rest of this entry »
A Malaysian Civil Service totally against 1Malaysia concept
Posted by Kit in Budget Debate, Education, nation building, Parliament, public service on Friday, 30 October 2009
To many Malaysians, the deplorable cowhead protests incited by UMNO in Shah Alam section 23 three days before National Day over the relocation of a Hindu temple was strong evidence of the lack of seriousness and commitment of the Najib administration to the “1Malaysia concept” – which put Malaysia in the dock of world opinion with adverse international media reports scaring off intending investors with the spectre that Malaysia is on the verge of greater racial and religious polarisation and intolerance.
The announcement in the budget of the award of national scholarships to 30 crème de la crème students strictly on merit for educational studies in world renowned universities is not proof of 1Malaysia – but the very reverse, of the discriminatory and divisive nature of Barisan Nasional government policies in the name of NEP when they should be based on meritocracy coupled with socio-economic need and justice.
National scholarships to 30 crème de la crème students for world renowed universities is a paltry and most ridiculous figure 52 years after Merdeka.
Read the rest of this entry »
End the 50-year New Economic Policy if Najib wants to lay claim to innovation or shift to a new economic model as the NEP had stunted Malaysia’s economic growth and prevented the nation from becoming a high-income country
Posted by Kit in Budget Debate, Economics, Education on Sunday, 25 October 2009
In his first budget, the 2010 budget, presented to Parliament on Friday, the Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak claimed that he is laying the foundation for the development of a new economic model to become a high-income economy.
He stressed that the new economic model must be based on innovation, creativity and high-value added activities so that Malaysian can remain relevant in a competitive global economy.
Najib announced that his government “will transform Malaysia through a comprehensive innovation process, comprising innovation in public and private sector governance, societal innovation, urban innovation, rural innovation, corporate innovation, industrial innovation, education innovation, healthcare innovation, transport innovation, social safety net innovation and branding innovation.”
So far, Najib’s most successful innovation in his First Two Hundred Days is “branding innovation”, as never before has a Prime Minister’s slogan, “1Malaysia”, been promoted so blatantly, not only during by-elections but there is even a 1Malaysia Toilet in Terengganu, Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia’s loss of face past two years in being totally excluded from Top World 200 Universities retrieved somewhat with University of Malaya ranked No. 180 but still a long way to go
Congrats to University of Malaya (UM) for making a come-back in the THES-QS World Universities Rankings 2009 to be among the world’s top 200 universities – climbing 50 places from last year (No. 230) to rank No. 180 this year.
Malaysia’s loss of face in the past two years in being totally excluded from the Top World 200 Universities ranking has been retrieved somewhat with UM’s return to the Top World 200 Universities bracket but there is still a long way to go for Malaysian universities to establish their excellence and international competitiveness for at least six reasons:
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This is still a far cry from UM’s previous rankings in the THES-QS Top World 200 Universities – 89th in 2004 and 169 in 2005, before falling to 192 in 2006 and out of the Top 200 bracket in the following two years (ranked 246 in 2007 and 230 in 2008).
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In June 2005, at UM’s centennial celebrations, then Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak challenged UM to raise its then 89th position among the world’s top 100 universities in the THES-QS ranking to 50 by the year 2020. After four years, UM had fallen 91 rankings although this is not as bad as falling 157 rankings in 2007. Is Najib’s challenge for UM to be among the world’s Top 50 universities “an impossible dream”?
Tomorrow D-Day for Malaysian universities – THES-QS Top 200 Universities Ranking 2009
Posted by Kit in Education, university on Wednesday, 7 October 2009
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak went before the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in Paris yesterday to extend his 1Malaysia motto to 1World.
Four years ago, at the University of Malaya’s centennial celebrations in June 2005, as Deputy Prime Minister, Najib threw the challenge to University of Malaya to raise its 89th position among the world’s top 100 universities in Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) ranking in 2004 to 50 by the year 2020.
Instead of accepting Najib’s challenge with incremental improvement of its THES ranking, the premier university went into a free fall for two years followed by completely disappearing from the Top 200 Universities ranking in the past two years.
After being ranked in 2004 at 89th position in the THES-QS World Top Universities, University of Malaya fell to 169th in 2005 and 192nd placing in 2006, and in the past two years of 2007 and 2008 rankings, not only University of Malaya but Malaysia fell out of the 200 Top Universities altogether!
We can only hope that Najib’s 1Malaysia and 1World calls will not be as dismal as his call in 2005 to University of Malaya to be among the world’s top 50 universities.
Tomorrow, Malaysians will know whether Malaysian universities could redeem themselves and get back into the World Top 200 Universities ranking when the 2009 THES-QS World Top Universities ranking is released, or whether Malaysia has fallen into the “black hole” of international university competitiveness stakes, unable to prove their academic quality, excellence and worth in the international arena. Read the rest of this entry »
Muhyiddin – honour Najib’s pledge that “The era where the government knows best is over” and allow parents the choice to retain the policy of teaching Science and Mathematics in English for their children
Posted by Kit in Education, Muhyiddin Yassin, Najib Razak on Sunday, 9 August 2009
When Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced his Cabinet four months ago on April 10, 2009, he built on his motto of “1Malaysia. People First. Performance Now” a week earlier to be “a government with new approaches for new times – a government that places a priority on performance, because the people must come first”.
Najib declared: “The era where the government knows best is over. We can only achieve our ambition for Malaysia if the government and the people, in a unified effort, work together for success and progress”.
We are only in the First 128 Days of Najib’s premiership, but his injunctions and exhortations of “1Malaysia. People First. Performance Now” and that “The era where the government knows best is over” had been completely ignored or forgotten by his Cabinet and bureaucracy.
Otherwise, the parents of SMK Seri Hartamas students in Kuala Lumpur would not have been locked out of the school yesterday when the school’s Parent-Teacher Association wanted to hold a properly-convened extraordinary general meeting to retain the PPSMI policy on the teaching of of science and mathematics in English in their school in 2012. Read the rest of this entry »
Greatest disappointment of all 18 Najib Cabinet meetings – utter failure to address six urgent national issues from crime, corruption, education, health to nation building
Posted by Kit in Education, Health, Human Rights, Najib Razak, nation building, Police, Teoh Beng Hock on Friday, 7 August 2009
The Cabinet meeting this Wednesday (5th August) is the greatest disappointment of all the 18 Cabinet meetings in the 124 days of Najib premiership because of its utter failure to address at least six urgent national issues ranging from crime, corruption, education, health to nation building.
The Cabinet has irresponsibly skirted grave and urgent national issues including:
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Cabinet’s failure to heed nation-wide outrage at its refusal to establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the causes and circumstances of Teoh Beng Hock’s mysterious death at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on July 16 instead of breaking up the process into two parts – an inquest into the causes of Teoh’s death and a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into MACC interrogation techniques.
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak had said in Pekan on Tuesday that the Commission of Inquiry into the MACC’s interrogation methods would only begin its work after the inquest into Teoh’s death.
It is Najib’s ensuing statement that the RCI “will take into consideration the findings of the inquest” which has given Teoh’s family the false hope that if they are not satisfied with the inquest findings, Najib is prepared to consider their request for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the causes and circumstances of Teoh’s death.
Which is better, learning maths and science in Bahasa Malaysia or in English?
Posted by Kit in Dr. Chen Man Hin, Education on Friday, 17 July 2009
By Dr Chen Man Hin, DAP life adviser
THE CRUX OF THE PRESENT CONTROVERSY IS WHICH IS BETTER, TO STUDY MATHS & SCIENCE IN BAHASA OR TO STUDY MATHS AND SCIENCE IN ENGLISH?
So as not to confuse the issue, it is necessary to point out the fact that all are agreed that Malaysian students must study Bahasa Malaysia and be fluent with the language.
It is also generally accepted that students should study English as it is the common language in the world and it is the language of commerce, diplomacy, of business and in science and technology.
For some mistaken rationale, the Ministry of Education has after months of debate and dialogue decided that students should use Bahasa to teach Maths and Science in secondary schools.
This has caused considerable disbelief and distress among many parents who prefer to have their children learn Maths and Science in English. They want their children to fit into the new world which has become global, and where English is the currency acceptable in most countries and in most fields of human endeavour.
Read the rest of this entry »
Parental campaign for option for their children to be taught maths and science in English in primary and secondary students should be respected by Cabinet Ministers and MPs
A parent C.W. Leong today sent me a petition he had started in his son’s school in Subang Jaya canvassing support for parents to be given the option for their children to be taught mathematics and science in English in primary and secondary schools, reporting good response.
This is Leong’s message to all parents who are against the abolishment of teaching of Science and Mathematics in English (PPSMI):
We are the silent majority.
Our mistake is, we did not lobby loud enough in the first place.
This is a signature campaign to appeal to the Minister of Education, to review the decision to abolish PPSMI,
MOST IMPORTANTLY AT THE SECONDARY SCHOOL LEVEL
Give parents the option to choose English.
This campaign is by parents concerned for their children’s education.
Many parents are doing something similar to this in schools all over the country.
The more action taken, the better will be the results.
Please forward to as many parents as possible, and get as many signatures as possible.
Then send the petition to the address shown in the pdf attachment.
Ong Tee Keat should not provide third example of his being “Hero outside, Coward inside” by securing Cabinet agreement tomorrow to modify its PPSMI decision last week by allowing optional use of English to teach maths and science in secondary schools
MCA President and Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat should not provide a third example of his being “Hero outside, coward inside” by securing Cabinet agreement tomorrow to modify its PPSMI decision last week by allowing optional use of English to teach mathematics and science in secondary schools from 2012.
I stand by my strong criticism of the Cabinet decision yesterday for the PPSMI decision, particularly for secondary schools from 2012, when I said that Malaysia will have the world’s most crazy educational system, where students in Form 4 in 2012 will have to switch to Bahasa Malaysia for mathematics and science in the last two years of secondary education, after nine years of learning these two subjects in English – again to switch back to English for the next five or six years for pre-university and tertiary education!
I challenge any Minister or even several Ministers at one time to a public debate in any language, whether Bahasa Malaysia, English or Chinese who dare to defend such a crazy system of nine years of mathematics and science in English from Std. 1 to Form 3, followed by two years in Bahasa Malaysia in Forms 4 and 5, and switch back again to English for the next five or six years of pre-university and tertiary education; how they could impose such a crazy educational system on millions of Malaysian students, even turning them into “guinea-pigs” not once but twice in their educational process!
Would these Ministers want their children to go through such educational turmoil and madness as to become guinea pigs twice in their primary, secondary and tertiary education?
Cabinet’s decision on PPSMI last Wednesday is as disastrous as the Cabinet decision in 2002 to rush headlong into implementing PPSMI from Std. One for all national, Chinese and Tamil primary schools without any preparation or research whatsoever
The Cabinet decision last Wednesday on PPSMI (Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik – teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics in English) is as disastrous as the Cabinet decision in 2002 to rush headlong into implementing PPSMI from Std. One for all national, Chinese and Tamil primary schools without any preparation or research whatsoever.
Now, Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, in justifying the Cabinet’s latest decision on PPSMI has made the shocking revelation that before the PPSMI was launched six years ago, there had been neither discussion or approval by the Cabinet nor discussion with the parents.
Several current Ministers were in the 2002 Mahathir Cabinet, including the present Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, DPM Muhyiddin himself, Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and Information, Communication and Culture Minister, Datuk Seri Rais Yatim, and they as well as the leaderships of Umno, MCA, Gerakan, MIC, SUPP and other Barisan Nasional component parties should all explain how they could permit such a far-reaching decision affecting the future generation of Malaysians to be taken in so haphazard and irresponsible a manner!
I agree that the Cabinet decision on PPSMI last Wednesday came as “a bombshell to many, especially those in the urban areas”.
Chaining The Children of the Poor
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, Education on Monday, 13 July 2009
by M. Bakri Musa
The ancient Chinese bound the feet of their baby daughters so they would grow up with deformed tiny feet, thus limiting their mobility and participation in life outside the little world of their homes. These women would then be totally dependent on their men.
In rescinding the policy of teaching science and mathematics in English, the government is likewise binding the intellectual development of our children. They and future generations of Malaysians would grow up with warped intellect. They would then be totally dependent on the government, just as ancient Chinese women with tiny feet were on their men.
My friend and fellow commentator Azly Rahman has a more apt and colorful local metaphor; we are condemning future generations to the Pekan Rabu economy, capable only of selling pirated versions of Michael Jackson albums. That would be the extent of their entrepreneurial prowess and creative flair. They are only subsistence entrepreneurs and ‘copy cat’ creators.
Make no mistake about it. The government’s professed concerns for the poor and those from rural areas notwithstanding, reversing the current policy would adversely and disproportionately impact them. The rich and those in the cities have a ready escape; the rich through private English classes, urban children from the already high levels of English in their community. Read the rest of this entry »
Tee Keat and Tsu Koon should publicly tender two apologies respectively for MCA and Gerakan – for support in 2002 for disastrous Cabinet decision to implement PPSMI from Std One and their support last Wednesday for another half-baked decision
MCA President and Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat and Gerakan President Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon should publicly tender two apologies respectively for MCA and Gerakan, firstly for their Ministers’ support in 2002 for the disastrous Cabinet decision to implement PPSMI (Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik – teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics in English) for all national, Chinese and Tamil primary schools from Std One and secondly, for their support last Wednesday for another disastrous half-baked Cabinet decision on PPSMI to make millions of students “guinea pigs” twice over.
In response to strong opposition and criticisms for the inflexible and unprofessional Cabinet decision on Wednesday to revert back to Bahasa Malaysia in the teaching of mathematics and science for Forms 1 and 4 from 2012, Ong immediately came out with the clarification that the MCA is for the continued use of English as a medium of instruction for mathematics and science for Forms 4 and 5 from 2012.
But Ong’s statement is only reported in the Chinese media (given front-page headline treatment) and conspicuously missing in the English and Bahasa Malaysia press, including the MCA newspaper The Star!
Read the rest of this entry »
Cabinet next week should undo its unprofessional, political and disastrous PPSMI decision with four-point remedy in line with national aspirations to be internationally competitive to become high-income nation
Six years ago, the Cabinet under Tun Mahathir took a hasty and ill-considered decision to rush headlong to implement the PPSMI (Pengajaran dan Pembelajaran Sains dan Matematik – teaching and learning of Science and Mathematics in English) from Std One for all primary schools, totally without proper or adequate preparation making five million Malaysian school children in the primary schools guinea pigs of BN politicians in the past six years.
Today, the Cabinet under Datuk Seri Najib Razak in trying to undo the failures and disasters of the ill-considered Cabinet decision six years ago after wasting RM4 billion of public funds, is again committing the folly of another ill-considered decision that will victimize millions of Malaysian students by making them “guinea pigs” of BN politicians for a second time in their 11-year primary and secondary education.
It is shocking beyond belief that Cabinet Ministers and Education Ministry officials could be so irresponsible and unprofessional as to turn million of students into “guinea pigs” for their half-baked educational experiments twice in a decade.
Students in Form 1 this year will continue to be taught maths and science in English until Form 3 in 2011, having spent the past six years in primary school with English as the medium of instruction for these two subjects under PPSMI.
Read the rest of this entry »
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