Malaysia's centralised education system that controls recruitment and spending plans has contributed to schoolchildren performing badly, says a World Bank report released this month.
The Wall Street Journal reported today that the Education Ministry dictated the expenditure, teaching staff recruitment, syllabus and textbooks while little information was available on each school’s performance.
The Wall Street Journal reported today that the Education Ministry dictated the expenditure, teaching staff recruitment, syllabus and textbooks while little information was available on each school’s performance.
“Around 65% of teacher hires are done by the national government rather than individual schools, compared with 5% in South Korea, where public schools have more autonomy,” the global business daily quoted the World Bank report as saying.
World Bank Southeast Asia director Ulrich Zachau said parents hardly provided feedback to school administrators and with all the factors combined, schools became less accountable.
World Bank Southeast Asia director Ulrich Zachau said parents hardly provided feedback to school administrators and with all the factors combined, schools became less accountable.
Malaysia had performed poorly in the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) conducted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, coming in No. 52 out of the 65 countries polled.
The country’s 15-year-olds were tested on Mathematics, Science and reading.
Ranking in the bottom third, Malaysia lagged behind even 17th place Vietnam, a low-income country.
The Wall Street Journal reported that despite the World Bank saying that there were enough teachers in Malaysia, parents argued that the quality of teaching was debatable.
Parents have said that teachers were not committed in their job, citing examples of teachers who were more engrossed in their handphones than they were with students during classroom hours.
Parents have said that teachers were not committed in their job, citing examples of teachers who were more engrossed in their handphones than they were with students during classroom hours.
However, teachers said that it was unfair to label teachers uncommitted.
“Teachers today adopt different methods in teaching subjects to students,” the daily quoted Adele Phang, a teacher, as saying.
The parents’ concern also extended to the Government’s shifting polices of alternating between Malay and English as the medium of instruction in Mathematics and Science.
“The Government’s frequent education policy shifts, such as switching the (language) of instruction to Bahasa from English, just add confusion in an already muddled system,” the newspaper quoted Sarah-Jane Thomas, a single mother in Ipoh, saying.
In a grand ambition to improve its education system, the ministry has allocated huge sums of money to its Education Blueprint and is banking on it to raise the quality of education in Malaysia.
The blueprint aims to shift the mindset so Malaysians would start to view teaching as a professional career while handing more autonomy to state and district education offices.
In a grand ambition to improve its education system, the ministry has allocated huge sums of money to its Education Blueprint and is banking on it to raise the quality of education in Malaysia.
The blueprint aims to shift the mindset so Malaysians would start to view teaching as a professional career while handing more autonomy to state and district education offices.
It also hopes to promote parents and community involvement in the education system.
The Education Ministry has also been allotted RM54.6 billion in Budget 2014, highest for any sector.
Citing the “urgent need to transform Malaysia’s education system”, the World Bank report noted that the country’s education has failed to undergo the necessary reform that would meet the demands for high-skilled professionals.
“I think in any country an improvement in education is a long-term agenda, and that’s not going to happen overnight,” said Zachau.
But Malaysia is also facing a daunting issue of brain drain, recruitment firm Kelly Services reported that 20% of the country’s highly educated were leaving for richer economies.
This leaves the country with less mettle to compete against its neighbour Singapore, a high-income economy with plenty of skilled professionals. – December 24, 2013.
The Education Ministry has also been allotted RM54.6 billion in Budget 2014, highest for any sector.
Citing the “urgent need to transform Malaysia’s education system”, the World Bank report noted that the country’s education has failed to undergo the necessary reform that would meet the demands for high-skilled professionals.
“I think in any country an improvement in education is a long-term agenda, and that’s not going to happen overnight,” said Zachau.
But Malaysia is also facing a daunting issue of brain drain, recruitment firm Kelly Services reported that 20% of the country’s highly educated were leaving for richer economies.
This leaves the country with less mettle to compete against its neighbour Singapore, a high-income economy with plenty of skilled professionals. – December 24, 2013.
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