KUALA LUMPUR – Poverty has become an unsurpassable barrier for many students from low-income households to turn their dreams of pursuing higher education into a reality.
Sadly, some of these students from poor families are high achievers, but due to their backgrounds, they opt to forgo their higher education, preferring to join the job market.
A senior lecturer (guidance & counselling) at Universiti Sains Malaysia, Syed Mohamad Syed Abdullah, cited two real cases of Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) school-leavers from poor families who had to seek jobs to support their families.
Both students are high-achievers, the first from a B40 family, rejected a scholarship offer to study at an institution of higher learning (IPT) due to financial constraints to cover other related costs, while another student from Penang decided to join the job market to fend for the family.
Syed Mohamad, who has served the education sector for over 25 years, said this situation is cause for concern as the nation is still grappling with the issue, albeit over six decades of achieving independence, noting that the problem must be immediately resolved to break the cycle of inherited poverty.
“In fact, the nation stands to lose highly competent human capital in various fields (if the problem is not addressed),” he said.
Widening gap
The Statistics Department (DoSM) had earlier revealed 72.1% or 390,000 out of 560,000 SPM leavers preferred to join the workforce after receiving their examination results, according to a study conducted in 2019.
The study showed only 170,000 SPM leavers were interested in pursuing their studies.
Given the scenario, Syed Mohamad said the trend of students dropping out and failing to further their education due to financial factors would undoubtedly rise and is expected to worsen, albeit rising inflation across the globe as well as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Besides that, data from the department shows the number of jobs in the semi-skilled category account for one-third of the working population with a 0.1% drop in tertiary education to 37.4% in the fourth quarter of 2022 over the same quarter in 2021.
“Looking at the situation, how long should the nation be trapped in the poverty cycle if the education issue is not immediately resolved,” he said.
According to Syed Mohamad, the widening gap in the education level among the people, exacerbated by rising dropouts, served as obstacles to government efforts to ensure all Malaysians are given equal opportunities to raise their living standards.
“For example, we want children from poor families to join the race to improve their lives and break the poverty cycle.
But the (existing) system does not make it possible for poor children to compete on an equal footing with other children. We know that most children from B40 families can’t afford to attend tuitions as enjoyed by other groups, including access to the latest education facilities.
“This situation has made them feel marginalised given that the curriculum content is beyond their reach, hence, limiting their access to education.
“This has also made it difficult for them to compete in a healthy manner with other students,” he said, noting that the gap in education opportunities will widen if left unchecked.
The widening gap between the rich and poor will affect the latter as they tend to lack confidence in their abilities to forge ahead due to their financial constraints, he added.
Inherited poverty
Syed Mohamad also said what is of utmost concern is when B40 families are not able to uplift their living conditions due to their low education background, making it more difficult for them to break the chain of poverty.
This is because education holds the key to helping a B40 family to change their livelihood for the better and allowing them to break free from the crutches of poverty.
He said after losing out on academic opportunities, those in the B40 group would not be able to elevate their status as wages or salaries are based on their academic qualifications.
Data from DoSM’s Household Income Estimates and Incidence of Poverty Report, Malaysia 2020, shows that in 2020, 639.8 thousand households were categorised as absolute poverty compared to 405.4 thousand households in 2019.
“We don’t want to close the door of opportunity for them to gain knowledge and shape their future just because of their financial limitations or poor background. As we all know, poverty can be eradicated through knowledge and skills.
“The Holland Career theory maintains that every individual has the potential to achieve excellence in their career if given the opportunity to unleash their potential and talents,” he said, adding that poor students dropping out of higher education will also cause unemployment to remain unresolved.
As such, he said the proposal by the government to provide free funding for students from poor families to pursue their studies should be immediately implemented to prevent the social inequality gap between the rich and poor from widening further.
What is more worrying is that such an imbalance in education levels, he said, could create a generation of those who believe that education will not guarantee improved livelihoods, despite achieving excellent academic results.
Importing experts, skilled workforce
“Our main objective in this respect is how to identify B40 high-achievers and help them see education as a platform to break the cycle of poverty and its traps,” he said.
The Higher Education Ministry has said earlier it intends to introduce a free studies sponsorship programme for first-generation students from poor families to help them pursue their education at institutions of higher learning.
Minister Khaled Nordin was quoted to have said the proposal would be tabled at a cabinet meeting for approval.
Commenting on this, Syed Mohamad said the proposal, when implemented, will contribute positively to human resource development by generating knowledgeable and highly skilled human capital.
“The dropout situation should be avoided, tap their potential and talents. When an individual’s talent and potential are not utilised or channelled to the right destination, the nation will suffer a double whammy and is left with inefficient human resources,” he said.
This situation will see the nation lacking in professional and skilled human resources, with an over-supply of workers with secondary school education.
Earlier news reports said Malaysia is expected to lose professionals in another 10 years if only a small number of students choose to further their studies in the near term. This is worrying, especially when many SPM school leavers have indicated they are not keen to pursue higher studies.
“The nation is experiencing a deficit in high-quality workforce for the future, especially among support and professional groups given the shortage of personnel with tertiary education. As such, it is not a surprise that we may one day be forced to bring in more skilled and professional workforce.
“This happens when the nation is unable to produce a generation of skilled workforce as well as professionals such as doctors, nurses and specialists,” he said.
Loss of national assets
Meanwhile, National Skilled Workers Organisation secretary-general Mohammad Rizan Hassan said the nation stands to lose its key assets if the proposal to provide free studies sponsorship for poor students is not implemented.
The nation risks losing young talents who hold the key to the country’s future leadership as well as the human capital who will be able to contribute towards Malaysia’s economic growth.
“As a government that is promoting national unity through the Malaysia Madani concept, this group should be given assistance as it is a major asset for the country, hence, they must be placed at the right place to enable them to contribute towards the nation’s socio-economic prosperity,” he said.
As such, said the youth activist, if education (academic or skilled) access is not provided for this group, the situation would mean the end of the journey for the high-achievers from B40 families.
“This is crucial, especially for poor students as well as those from B40, and it is worth noting that the younger generation has two assets that need to be honed, namely external and internal assets. Internal assets refer to a spiritual, coherent sense of identity, motivation, etc.
“External assets cover developing talents and potential. Both aspects, if not provided for as a platform to drive their motivation for further knowledge, means we have created a tough path for them, and as a result, they become a liability for the nation,” he said. – Bernama, April 11, 2023
