Reimagining Malaysia Part 6: Improving Public Schools

I’ve discussed in Part 5 of the series on how while public education is free, good education is no longer free. We urgently need to reform our public education system. In this article, I’ll discuss two aspects of educational reform that I believe are important, firstly, to maximise student outcome for every taxpayer ringgit; and secondly, to reinvent human resources development in education.

I shall elaborate further.

Maximising Student Outcome For Every Ringgit Spent

Both education blueprints - Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 (Preschool to Post-secondary Educations)[1] and Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 (Higher Education)[2] - pointed out that there is a low return on investment in education in Malaysia in term of student outcome compared to other countries.

According to World Bank data, Malaysia’s government expenditure on basic education – from preschool to secondary school – as a percentage of GDP is one of the highest among ASEAN countries and Asian Tiger countries, the latter being South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan and China. See figure below.

Basic Education Spending as a Percentage of GDP

Source: World Bank

Reimagining Malaysia Part 5: Education Will Change Your Life

"Education is the most power weapon you can use to change the world."

-Nelson Mandela- 

When I was young, I asked my dad on many occasions why we didn’t have the good life as other children had. My father’s reply was always this, “Study hard, Bee Yin, education will change your life.”

Indeed, it has. It not only changed my life but the lives of my siblings and childhood friends. Education opened up possibilities we would never have imagined as children from a small town. Although we may not be rich, many of us are better off than our parents’ generation. Education changes and improves lives, sometimes above and beyond what we could imagine.

Education is not only important at the individual level – it is also a factor that leads to the success of a country. Education prepares the next generation who will drive the country’s wheel of economy and development. A free, democratic, developed and prosperous country needs an educated workforce as well as equally educated and dynamic leaders.

PUBLIC EDUCATION AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

The world is not fair. By accident of birth, some people enjoy better starting points than others. The sons of traditional fishermen in Tanjung Karang do not get the same family upbringing as the sons of engineers and lawyers in Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya. The daughters of blue-collared workers, who stay in low-cost flats in the cities, do not get the same learning environment as the daughters of white-collared professionals, who stay in condominiums, terrace houses and big bungalows in the cities.

A good public education is a great equaliser as it provides an equal opportunity for children of the haves and the have-nots. Public education makes the unfair world fairer.