KUALA LUMPUR – As the country prepares itself for post-pandemic life, experts in the education field have raised several recommendations they deem necessary to improve the national system that has been on the decline for years.
Among the suggestions put to the government include decentralising the education system, physical-digital hybrid learning, improving the capability of teachers, and implementing expert recommendations.
National Education Reform Initiative president Datuk Tan Yew Sing said overregulation currently exists in universities and schools, and has been proven to hinder institutions’ and students’ academic progress.
He proposed that some of the Education Ministry’s powers and responsibilities instead be passed to states and education institutions.
“If we look at some of the more successful education systems, especially in the West, they are quite decentralised.
“But that doesn’t mean the ministry does not have any role to play,” he said told the “Educating Malaysia: Teaching in a Changing World” webinar organised by Sekhar Institute yesterday.
Tan, who founded Inti International University and Colleges, cited Australia and the United States as examples of countries that allow greater autonomy to states and institutions in the education field.
Over-concentration of powers in the ministry, he said, only serves to overburden staff, which subsequently affects their performance and service to the people.
“In fact, when I started Inti, I remember the then education director-general saying the ministry should only act as a facilitator. But at the moment, I realise there are too many regulations in institutions,” he said.
Separately, on calls for classes to be conducted fully online in the future, Tan said this remains impractical as there are certain aspects to face-to-face learning that cannot be translated virtually.
“Education is more than just knowledge: it is also the wisdom of decision-making, soft skills, critical high-order thinking, and other attributes you cannot just find from hard data.
“In that sense, face-to-face interaction is still very important, even after Covid-19 is over. For me, the way forward is for a hybrid system, with a combination of virtual and physical learning,” he said.
Improve learning first, talk digital later
Education service provider LeapEd Services Sdn Bhd executive director Nina Adlan Disney said while she agrees that the pandemic has exposed a lot of underlying weaknesses in the education system, the priority should remain on improving teaching and learning.
“I would say focus has to be on learning, before digital learning. It’s not so much a question of hardware, but software; getting teachers to be comfortable and able to adapt their strategies,” she said when asked if schools are equipped for digital classes.
Nina noted that in many schools, regardless of the facilities, teachers appear to be struggling to adapt to changes forced by the pandemic and require support to conduct their classes.
Nevertheless, she acknowledged that there is a need for the government to find long-term, permanent solutions to address online learning issues.
Drawing an analogy between Covid-19 and the education system, Nina said the Education Ministry must find a cure to the “virus” while treating existing “symptoms”.
“At the moment, the ministry appears to be scrambling to put out the fires as and when they arise. But we need to step back a little bit.
“The pandemic has given us a unique opportunity to face the problem head-on and be steadfast in implementing a cure,” she said.
Ministers only bothered about their legacy
Parent Action Group for Education chairman Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim said what is worrying is the fact that many recommendations put forward by experts remain unheeded by the government.
Having spent two years in the ministry’s National Education Advisory Council between 2018 and last year, Azimah revealed how their proposals “continue to sit on somebody’s table” to this day.
“After meeting almost 100 times in two years, our recommendations have yet to be read and there has been no action.
“I noticed that, even being at that level, you are unable to influence policies. The public will think we (council) are very powerful, but we are not.
“It all depends on the minister; what he wants to do and what kind of legacy he wants to leave behind. And, I believe the ministry doesn’t believe there is anything wrong with our education system,” she said.
Elaborating further, Azimah said: “It’s so difficult to progress. They will say they are doing this and that, but I’m not seeing any result or a better outcome. Despite all the status we have put in, it is status quo.”
She said, as it stands, the ministry appears to only be focusing on what can make it look good, with issues of underprivileged students being left behind not being publicly addressed.
Get parties to state their stand on issues like education pre-elections
Meanwhile, Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman proposed an election system that will require political parties to answer a set of questions put forward by certain special committees comprising industry players and technocrats, among others.
This, he said, will allow the public to get a better picture of the stand taken by the parties on matters of public interest, such as education.
“Instead of polls being merely a single-issue election of, for example, 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Bhd) or abuse of power, maybe committees can start posting 10 questions for all parties to answer.
“For example, ‘what is your stance on political appointees in Majlis Amanah Rakyat and will you audit and review certain subjects in the respective universities?’,” he said.
Former Victoria Institute headmaster V. Murugasu, meanwhile, urged the government to put greater emphasis on the importance of the English language in education.
He proposed that a bilingual formal education system be introduced early in primary education, noting that pupils have a better ability to pick up new languages at a younger age.
“English is a global language. One in four people globally speak the language, about 375 million individuals use it as their first language, and it has an official state in about 75 countries. I think we are falling behind international standards if we don’t prepare.”
The discussion was moderated by P. Gunasegaram, executive director of Sekhar Institute, a unit within the PETRA Group of companies, whose chairman and CEO, Datuk (Dr) Vinod Sekhar, gave the opening address.
Sekhar Institute’s aims include promoting awareness, holding discussions and debates on important issues and suggesting solutions where possible.
The webinar revolved around how the Covid-19 situation has added to the complexity of problems facing education in Malaysia, with digital learning still delayed and lost school days setting students back.
From this, the discussion will move into other challenges facing education in the country, such as a polarised education system, falling standards, an irrelevant syllabus, a digital thrust in shambles, unemployable graduates and dual-language problems, among others.
Earlier webinars held in the “Because it Matters” series are “Beyond Vision 2020: Growth with Equity in the New Decade” and “Battling Corruption and Patronage”. – The Vibes, June 16, 2021