KUALA LUMPUR – Simpang Renggam MP Dr Maszlee Malik has raised the issue of a “lost generation” class of students, adding that the Education Ministry has failed to come up with a solution over the matter.
According to Maszlee, the lost generation refers to students who have been left behind in terms of education because they have not been to school for almost a year.
“Referring to the World Health Organisation, Unesco and World Bank, the worst hit would be those entering Year 1 or 2 next year.
“This is a critical age for them to learn writing, listening, comprehension and mathematics on a foundation level, but they haven’t attended school in almost a year,” Maszlee explained.
The former education minister then pointed out that the current Education Ministry, under the Perikatan Nasional administration, has yet to come up with any solution to tackle the issue.
“I have queried the education minister, but he has failed to provide an answer. We find that the ministry is still following the old ways where they think they know everything,” he added.
Maszlee then suggested the formation of a National Education Task Force, comprising members from the National Union of the Teaching Profession, Unicef, Health Ministry, education experts, education-related NGOs, academics, and members of Parliament who are involved in the education industry.
Yesterday, Maszlee had, in the Dewan Rakyat, urged the government to set up a National Education Action Council (NEAC) to address the issue of dropouts due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said that the virus crisis affected and excluded nearly one million students – known as the “lost generation” – from the schooling system.
This group consists of pre-schoolers and Years 1 and 2 students who are struggling with basic skills, such as reading, writing and counting, he said during the Education Ministry’s budget debate at the committee stage.
“It is even more unfortunate that the Education Ministry does not have a master plan for these students in 2021 to address the dropout (issue),” he said.
In this regard, said Maszlee, an NEAC, comprising government and opposition MPs, as well as stakeholders, should be established.
“This effort is to produce an effective master plan to address the problem of the lost generation.” – The Vibes, December 16, 2020
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