KUALA LUMPUR – Overhauling the education system must be a priority of the new government after the 15th general election (GE15), Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said.
The current education system is disorderly, fails to help students think critically, and itself is not welcoming of constructive criticism or better arguments, even from its own teachers, he added.
“We are weak as we do not have the ability to listen to critical views. We pray that if there is a change in the country's leadership, the education system will be overhauled, because it is currently a chaotic system,” Anwar, who is a former education minister, said in a video posted on Facebook last night.
The PKR president said that it is the teachers that have to implement the education minister’s decisions and recommendations, and as such it is critical that ministers and policymakers listen to the views of teachers, as well as parents and students.
The inability to listen to criticism shows a proud and arrogant mindset, he added, and this will only constrain freedom of thought.
Anwar’s remarks on education come as primary schoolteacher Mohd Fadli Salleh from SK (1) Gombak faces the sack for raising his concerns on multiple social media channels about various issues affecting pupils.
The Education Ministry has subsequently cleared Mohd Fadli.
Anwar added that the inability of the ministry and those running the education system to accept different views also leads to poor planning.
He said when he was education minister, he listened to the teachers’ union and attended their programmes regularly to hear their views.
“When we were asked to open a seminar or programme, we went not only to give a speech but to listen to teachers’ complaints and views.
“If we don’t listen to them, we cannot improve the quality of the teachers themselves,” he said. – The Vibes, October 19, 2022
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