An Education System Worthy of Malaysia #19
Chapter 3: The Present System (Cont’d)
Malaysian Schools Today
Education in Malaysia is federal responsibility. It is highly centralized with MOE controlling every detail of the system, from the curriculum and syllabus right down to the choosing, printing, and distributing of textbooks. At one time the ministry also had its own architectural and public works department responsible for designing and building schools. State governments do not partake in education except for some religious schools in PAS-controlled Kelantan and Trengganu.
This may change soon, as there are other states like Selangor and Negri Sembilan that are planning to have their own universities.
Malaysia provides for 11 years of free but not compulsory schooling; 6 primary, and 5 secondary. As of 2003, primary schooling would be compulsory. There are preschools for 4-5 years old, mostly run by private entities and as expected, located mainly in urban areas. There are some public ones run by MOE as well as the Ministries of Rural Development and of Unity and Community Development.
The term “free schooling” requires clarification. It means only that there are no tuition fees, but parents still incur other expenses for sports and other extra curricular activities, in addition to books, transportation, uniforms, and lunches. These are substantial. For rural students, transportation can be a major cost although now with many schools built in villages, this is becoming less a significant factor.
After preschool, children enter primary school at age six, and after six years move on to five years of secondary schooling. This is the national stream where the medium of instruction is Malay. English is taught only as a subject, and although it is taught at all levels, it is not a compulsory subject in the sense that students need not pass it.
To cater for the needs and sensitivities of the vernacular groups, there are the “national-type” schools at the primary level where pupils are taught in their mother tongue (Chinese or Tamil), with Malay offered only as a subject. After Primary 6, the pupils would spend a year in Malay immersion class (Remove Class) prior to entering the regular “national” stream for their secondary education. The old Chinese secondary schools still exist physically but they now use the national curriculum with Malay as the medium of instruction.
Students sit for standardized national tests at the end of Primary 6; Form 3 (Year 9); and Form 5 (Year 11).
There is a separate parallel Islamic stream, starting at preschool and going all the way up to Year 13 and the university. Here as expected, the emphasis is exclusively on Islamic Studies. These schools claim that they also teach other subjects like mathematics and science; in reality those are being taught at the most elementary level. Their laboratories (only in the most generous way can they be called as such) would be lucky to have a few test tubes–for demonstration purposes only! The Islamic stream has its own matriculation examination where only Islamic Studies subjects are tested.
This education dualism of two separate and mutually exclusive streams operating independently is the dilemma facing Malaysia today, especially when the philosophies and goals of the two streams contradict each other. One is essentially secular, the other religious. One tries to be inclusive and integrative, the other is exclusive and prides on its insularity. The divisive potential of this dualism is finally dawning on policymakers, but because of the powerful symbolism of Islam, the challenge of reconciling the two would be immense. Worse, there has been little or no attempt at doing that.
There are also special education schools, few in numbers, to take care of those with special needs. In addition some of the regular schools also have limited facilities to handle these students.
For Bumiputra students, the Year 6 examination is critical as the top scorers are offered the opportunity to continue their secondary education at residential schools where tuition and boarding are free. The Form 3 examination is also critical, as students would be streamed to enter the academic, technical, or vocational stream at the upper secondary level. Students chosen for the academic pathway are further streamed into Arts or Science.
Beyond Form 5 the system gets messy. Students either leave to enter the workforce, enter two years of pre-university class (Form 6–Upper and Lower), or seek further training at teachers’, technical, and other colleges. As expected, those chosen for Form 6 would be the top scorers.
Within the last two decades Form Six has been emasculated, with students now increasingly choosing the faster path of matriculation classes (matrikulasi) run by local universities. Matrikulasi, designed specifically for Bumiputras, is popular as it cuts the pre-university years to one. Non-Bumiputras too are shying away from Sixth Form; instead they enroll in the many private colleges and sit for foreign matriculation examinations. Of the 350,000 candidates who sat for the Form V examination in 2001, less than 30,000 continued on into Sixth Form.
Most schools are day schools, with some providing limited hostel facilities for students staying far away from campus. The government also operates a number of fully residential secondary schools both under MOE as well as the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development (through MARA). There is also one under the Defense Ministry (The Royal Military College). The oldest is the all-boys Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK), established in 1905 by the British to educate children of royal families and nobility to prepare them for junior positions in the colonial civil service. Such modest goals notwithstanding, to Malays that school is revered as Babut Darjat (Gate to Heaven). Evidently Malays then (and perhaps now too) did not have high aspirations; they were easily satisfied with the crumbs handed to them by the British.
After independence the college began admitting those from the peasant class. This was not an attempt at meritocracy or democratization, rather a reflection of the dwindling numbers from the upper class who could benefit from the college or could fill the classes.
Despite the moniker college, MCKK is merely a residential school. During the 1960s and 70s with the influx of talent beyond the royalty class, the college did produce some luminaries. Its top students routinely matriculated into elite universities. Come the1980s with the general emasculation of Sixth Form, MCKK also dispensed with its Sixth Form. Its graduates now have to spend an additional year or two elsewhere for finishing school prior to entering university; a definite step down in mission.
A comparable institution for girls, The Malay Girls (now Tunku Kurshiah) College (TKC) was set up in 1949. Like their counterpart at MCKK, TKC graduates too now have to go elsewhere for matriculation.
Following the successes of these two schools in the 60s and 70s, the government expanded the program and set up dozens more. This substantially increased the number of Malay undergraduates. One of my recommendations back in the mid 1960s was precisely to expand these residential schools, but to limit them to children of disadvantaged Bumiputras. Today these schools are a mere shadow of their former glory. Few prepare their students for matriculation, the rest like MCKK and TKC goes only to Form 5. The few exceptions include the MARA Junior College in Banting that prepares students for the rigorous International Baccalaureate (IB) program.
The government is committed to expanding these very expensive schools. The Eighth Malaysia Plan calls for building at least a dozen more such schools. These schools cater exclusively for Bumiputras, but in March 2002 the government announced as part of a general plan to introduce meritocracy and greater competition, that 10 percent of the slots be allocated to non-Bumiputras, at least for MARA residential schools. The residential schools emphasize the sciences, all part of the national effort to increase the number of Malays in the sciences.
The figure that is most interesting is that less than 5 percent of Chinese students choose the national schools, and that number is fast declining. The figures for Indians are only slightly higher. Thus national schools are essentially schools for Malays. In contrast, in the last few years there is an increasing tendency for Malays to choose Chinese schools. Additionally many more Malays are opting out of the national stream into religious schools.
The much-vaunted national schools are now losing students from both Malays and non-Malays. The Razak Plan, tinkered once too many, is finally unraveling.
Other relevant statistics to ponder are these. Out of a population of over 23 million, there are about 2.9 million students in primary and 2 million in secondary schools. There are over 6,000 national primary schools and 1,700 secondary ones. The Chinese and Tamil schools number 1,300 and 530 respectively. The pupil to teacher ratio at the primary level is 19:1; at secondary, 17:1. These ratios look impressive but I have yet to see a class with less than 40 pupils. These figures, like others emanating from MOE, are suspect.
Next: Public Universities and Other Post Secondary Institutions
May 25th, 2006 at 4:46 am
Education policies are being politicized. There’s nothing wrong for promoting and looking after the interests of one’s community. However, we must question whether such policies are to safeguard our national interest as the first priority or to safeguard the interest of one community.
Sadly, the view of the ruling party, UMNO is myopic and cannot see beyond the interest of one community, Malay. The policies being biased and discriminatory had not helped the Malay community in general. Do they have the vision that non-Malay could help foster the progress of the Malay as much as other countries realized that immigrants do help in their national interest and progress?
By all means promote Ketuanan Melayu but putting barriers to retard the progress of other communities in the country is not going to help in the long run. Brain drain and racial segregation will make Malaysia a loser in the global market.
So long as we have those in power with myopic view, there can be no hope for change in the near
future. Such is the destiny of Malaysia.
Maybe I should be grateful to the government for such policies that had forced me (non-bumi) to seek better opportunities overseas and my off-springs granted foreign citizenship with equal opportunity in education, commerce and career. Does this in anyway helped the Malay or Malaysia? The only sacrifice I made, being separated from my families but that is compensated by the future generation where they are accepted as equal, the citizen of the country they reside.
Malaysia, thanks for the memory (childhood).
May 25th, 2006 at 6:33 am
Mmmmm…
So Malaysian education system is falling apart…..
Aha… I remembered ……watching the Oprah Winfrey show…… quite recently….. or rather very recently……
That particular topic is ‘American Schools in Crisis’. Here is the link (especially to those who would doubt me or doubt my credibility):
http://www.stateschoolnews.com/article.php?articleID=248
I suppose the education system in the US is also full of weaknesses and deficiencies….
Just to add… and this is from my own reading of the US system ( I had been to study in the US last time…..more than 15 years ago….)… In the US there is also a flight away from the public schools… parents who can afford it prefers to send their kids to the private schools…
And I remember reading the Wall Street Journal and other US newspapers about the issue of “education vouchers” (please correct me if this term is wrong!)….. now…. is that some kind of subsidy to the middle class Americans so that they can send their kids to private schools (mostly run by religious orders)… But unfortunately the inner city folks who are poor were missing out it seems…. plus the debate on the subsidy thing… just like the one that M Bakri got in the previous topic……. of course this subsisdy concerns education… not oil……
So….It seems the US is still having problems with its high schools….. after all these years!
How interesting…..
May 25th, 2006 at 7:17 am
And to add before I sign off…….
Oh my God! Can you believe this?
One of the strongest advocates of the subsidy like “education vouchers” is none other that doyen of neo-liberal economics - Milton Friedman…
Damn……!
Wasn’t he one of those economists who promote the austerity programs in third world countries… the kinds of programs that sees reduction in subsidies and so on and so forth.. all in the name of “economic efficiency”….and in the promotion of the “free market”…..
And some of us Malaysians seems so unquestioning in following the so called drive to economics efficiency……. in all aspects of life… including the education sector………
May 25th, 2006 at 4:12 pm
Just to nitpick, education voucher advocated by Milton Friedman is not a subsidy. In fact, it’s the opposite of subsidy. It is a way introducing free market and competition to the school system. It works like this:
Instead of giving education funds to school directly, the government gives the money to parents in the form of “education vouchers”. These vouchers can be redeemed at any school of the parents choice, for free tuition, books etc. Schools will then use these vouchers to get funds from the government.
In this system, schools are forced to fight for government money, by offering better results, classes etc. Parents will naturally enroll their kids in performing school, giving more vouchers to these schools, and hence more money. School that don’t perform will get less money, and will eventually be closed down. Survival of the fittest. It is free market at its most efficient, brutal.
Critics point that this system will make good schools (suburbs in US; urban in Malaysia) richer, and poor schools (urban in US; rural in Malaysia) poorer. Note that I’m not advocating this system for Malaysia. With poor rural economy and infrastructure, this is system is clearly unworkable.
May 25th, 2006 at 5:45 pm
Nice one! Anak Malaysia.
See how skimping book covers & googling news articles get you anywhere?
The process of reading the books & articles can be a waste of time & brain cells for some trying intellectual.
BTW is hard, in fact very hard to get any reliable statistics or economic data from any of the M’sia govt depts wrt NEP over the past 40+ years.
There are some figures quoted by bodies in UN but the trustworthyness cannot be justified as these figures were been fed by the same govt depts in M’sia via qustionable means & interpretations.
Just like Dr Bakri discovered about the ratio of the teacher-to-student in M’sia classroom!
A group of us, with intensive trainings in practical economics & political studies, have been trying to trace the on-going aftermaths of NEP over the last 5 years. All we can get are just sketches & heresays, without concrete proofs.
Someone must have done a very good jobs in hiding or distorting these infos. Even more so than the chronic unavailability of the Petronas account in ROC.
This just show that our education has not only failed in training useful people to man the countries. It has also produced a lot of disguided evil-doers, who use their trainings to hide all the wrongs that have been permeated throughout the system.
Just wondering WHY are they so afraid to let the figures out.
If the NEP has really success then let the data shows for itself.
Rather we’ve now a whole lot of ‘empirical’ side-shows that parade the so-called crowning glory of the NEP!
May 25th, 2006 at 6:07 pm
Anak Malaysia,
In the US, it’s called smart voucher! In Malaysia? That damned stupid subsidy!In the US, it’s called lobbying! In Malaysia? It’s bribery!In the US, it’s called preemptive! In Malaysia, it’s terrorism!
What else?
May 26th, 2006 at 3:44 am
He he he……
Tell you what guys…. I admit that it takes a long time become a learned person……
Take for example Mao Zedong….. from reading biography…. he took a long time to learn about Marxism…. namely because he learned Marxism wrongly….. I mean he was introduced to Marxism by some Chinese “intellectual” who got it wrong…….
And Mao got it wrong in other instances too…….he believe so much in what the Soviets are saying or advising him to do…..that he nearly annihilate himself by …. namely by co-operating with the KMT…. of course some times I wish Chiang Kai Shek had annihilated Mao altogether……..
He got it wrong when he did the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution too!
Anyone cares to read Mao Zedong nowadays…. ?
My point: Making mistakes is so common… it is universal… have you ever heard this saying: to err is to human…… so beware of berating other people in such a manner…..
And tell you what… the debate on education vouchers in the US is still on-going…. and those who jump to conclusion is …. I have to say it…. damn shallow and stupid…
I still read WSJ and New York Times and I know what I am talking about…..
Actually, I am amazed on how some of us Malaysians “worship” those intellectuals of the west…. ironically those intellectual want us to have a questioning mind…. not just blindly accept or do their best to justify what ever they do, say or perscribe….. like some people here do it seems……
…..Blindly accept and follow what those intellectuals of the west… just like Mao did with the Soviet…….
Oh yes… Milton Friedman is indeed a contraversial figure… do you know that he publicly supported Chile’s Agusto Pinnochet… the dictator killed the legitimate persident of Chile (and that dictator killed many other Chileans too) back in 1973 and throughout the 70s…… Pinochet thanked Friedman by introducing a harsh autesterity economic program in Chile….. and guess what….. those who question that austerity program (which was inspired by Milton Friedman) found themselves hounded by the General’s security forces!
Oh yes…. any one can say I am stupid or intellectually challenged….. but it helps if you can give hard evidence to support your assertions……
May 26th, 2006 at 4:01 am
One more….
I find this funny: “……Survival of the fittest. It is free market at its most efficient, brutal.”
Care to support this assertion.
Have you ever think that letting private school compete with public schools is such a ridiculous idea….
In the US, public schools, unlike private schools… cannot refuse students because they do not have the pre-requisites (i.e. brains)…. how then do you expect public schools to “compete” with private schools….
Care to explain? Ahhh… I heard the so called free market believers believe so much in “the level playing field”….. or have they forgotten?
May 26th, 2006 at 4:08 am
Last one I promise…..
Perhaps some one here have forgotten that the role of the govt and the public edu system is to provide public goods……..
Of course, then….. one may question…. what kind of good is education classified into?
This question is applicable in Malaysia as much as it is applicable in the US……..
May 26th, 2006 at 4:35 am
I think if high schools could educate studens on how to use the condom, that would be enough justification to maintain public schools at their present level.
May 26th, 2006 at 4:37 am
If you were to use this as a test for our own schools, students would fail miserably - and the purpose of education with it.
May 26th, 2006 at 4:38 am
You can call this the “Condom Test”.
May 26th, 2006 at 11:07 am
Amit, Just wondering - do you have children? What type of schooling did you arrange for them?
May 26th, 2006 at 4:44 pm
Why….? My kids are in private schools…..hmmmm! maybe i should put them in public schools….they say public schools have higher standard……what do you say?
May 27th, 2006 at 4:21 am
Amit,
So you don’t have a high opinion of the Malaysian education system? Don’t you think we have a problem not just in education but also in our national competiveness?
At least appreciate that Dr Bakri is concerned and he is trying to do something good for the country. What good are you doing? If not doing anything, at least try not to be so negative.
May 27th, 2006 at 5:16 am
Botero
Amit is living Down Under so sending his kids to Public school is OK. I don’t think he will send his kids to public school in Malaysia.
May 27th, 2006 at 6:06 am
wa, amit you are up to your old tricks again. the smart amit is back with a vengence and is mr knows to boot. spare a thought for tok cik here at the mosque lah.
the smart little boy is Down Under now? tok cik thought he was in ulu kelang.
tima do u have anything for him?
May 27th, 2006 at 7:46 am
Tok Cik, geram huh? …..ta boleh tahan this haughty kurang ajar character? he hasn’t changed, will never change.
Yes, I had been following all along. Mr Learned, Mr Know-alls? …the biggest problem with opinion is, one doesn’t require knowledge to have one!
May 27th, 2006 at 10:09 am
Just to nitpick:
1. Students enroll for Primary one at age seven, not six.
2. Remove class is not compulsory, you can take an exam to skip it, or simply ask the principle of the secondary school to use his discretion.
3. Aside from the national and Islamic curriculums, there are also Independent Chinese high schools that teach their curriculum entirely in mandarin and test students with the UEC instead of SPM exam (Although they can still take the SPM if they want). I mention this because, while I understand you are talking about government controlled schools, Chinese High Schools are schools which any academically qualified Malaysian may enter, unlike say International schools where students have to meet other non-academically related criteria to attend.
May 27th, 2006 at 10:16 am
thanks tima. never expect you’d respond that fast. tok believes many on this blog share your sentiments.
wonder what mr knows all is doing besides spending time on BM’s blog dispensing views? he would be better off doing charity works with the salvation army. at least we would be spared reading his tasteless remarks.
May 27th, 2006 at 2:02 pm
There are many ways of putting forward one’s views. It is ok to disagree but his arrogance, cockiness pissed me off !
I heard dia nak apply pr england tapi mat salleh sana ta’mahu dia so he had no choice but to go down under. perangai serupa dia, stray cat pun find him offensive, what else to expect?
May 28th, 2006 at 1:24 am
Yes…. The discussion is getting emotional… Again, this is because there is a lack of systematic evidence
People say that Malaysian education system is failing… but they fail to provide a convincing measure of performance. Yes, some criteria of success and failure are indicated… but these criteria are highly contestable… which then leads to polemical and emotional discussions (like asking me where do I send my kids to school…..) , rather than engaging in rational debate.
So, I wonder how does one measure the performance of a national education system…
Let me suggest one measure…… in doing so one must assume that the main purpose of education is to enable the beneficiary of education: success of life in a capitalist society… this assumption is highly problematic… just ask a Pas supporter or a devout Muslim what is the main purpose of education…… But this assumption is necessary at least here……
In that case the performance of education can be measured by the ratio of - market value of output over opportunity costs of inputs….
Lets make another assumption: all the beneficiaries of the education system will be labour providers. This assumption, though problematic, may make the calculation easier…
Therefore a (proxy) measure of the performance of a national system at any given period of time will be the present value of labour services of all the beneficiaries of this education system over the total cost of propping up the education system.
Of course, these assumes that the markets are efficient…… And the total costs must somehow be adjusted to reflect opportunity costs.
To think about it… it is easier to measure the performance of universities and higher education institutions using this measure… at least for universities, they do have annual reports in which data for expenditures and operating costs are available. However, the problem may be to find how their graduates are performing in the labour market…… Anyway….I wonder if someone has undertaken such studies. If you know please do share….
And just to add… if this measure is used… it is likely that the performance of MCKK will be quite high… after all one can say that many of their graduates are successful….. And it may be likely that public universities fail as many of their graduates are unemployed (if indeed this is the case)…. it is likely that universities may fare worse as their expenditures are very high… for example…..have you ever wonder what are the costs of having science labs and these scientific equipments at the universities…..
But again…. The evidence still awaits us… or….in other words….. We are still waiting for the evidence…..
If folks here like to bash me up….. Please do… you are also welcome to say bad things about me…. But as a matter of principle….. I will likely not respond to these items….
But it will surely be helpful if folks can provide evidence……
May 28th, 2006 at 2:27 am
He he one more…….
.”….So you don’t have a high opinion of the Malaysian education system? Don’t you think we have a problem not just in education but also in our national competiveness? ”
My opinion of the Malaysian edu system is…… all right……. in fact I am questining M Bakri’s assertion that Malaysian edu system is failing… does that tell something?
National competitiveness… I think we need not think too much about it……. as I believe that it is meaningless to to accept the idea of “national competitivenes”… for start how do you measure national competitiveness?
Countries cannot become competitive….. the purpose of countries or nations via govts is to provide public or welfare goods… not “national competitiveness”… only firms, household and individuals need to be concerned with competitiveness…… especiall firms as they have to maximize profits…..
Anyway….. where are those people that “love” the brutal efficiency of the market….. I wonder what would they say about national competitiveness…..
It is a misnomer to use the term “brutal” efficiency. Capitalism is about exchange bewteen parties, with the parties agreeing to that exchange because that exchange will benefit them…..
The term brutal efficiency is actualy (commonly) used by those who are against capitalism….. because that means a zero-sum game.. or worse….i.e. one party oppressing the other….
Or perhaps the term brutal efficiency refers to Chile’s Pinochet using Milton Friedman’s austerity economic program… to achieve efficiency that benefit the General’s cliques and the ruling class!…..
May 28th, 2006 at 4:11 am
amit, your rambling is driving us up the wall, especially the he..he..ha..ha. please spare us the trouble of trying to decipher your thoughts. keep your views to yourself and give us a break.
we have heard enough of YOU. why don’t you start a new blog to rival Bakri’s then you can he..he..ha..ha.. the whole night through like a sex-starved banshee.
May 28th, 2006 at 7:02 pm
you are right Tok Cik, he should start his new blog. Dr Bakri has been very patient with him, he thinks he is so great, likes to pick fights with others on this blog. Something is very wrong with this idiot.
May 28th, 2006 at 7:55 pm
Tok Cik and Tima
I don’t know where you guys come from and how you are related to amit. Amit is not stupid, he comes out with good points and he backs them up with facts and references. But both of you seem to belittle his opinion. Shame on you, instead of contributing you are calling amit stupid. Come up with a better argument or stop this nonsence.
June 19th, 2006 at 3:31 am
im a student of MRSM Jasin
my college was the best school in 2005 SPm (1st rank,index 1.65)
there are 435 form 5 student and some 400 form 4 student
exactly 10% of my batch students of non-indegenous people
however, for the next year,none of my juniors were non-bumiputra.
i suppose that applies to other MRSM.
HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?
there`s a rumour that the reason the government announced the 10% enrollment of non-bumiputras were only for ‘pancing-undi’.
the non-bumiputra did really good during school.most of the top ten students were non bumi too.but these doesnt mean malay students are not good.the most top student award was shared by two student- ali and apek.both got excellent cgpa of 4.00.
the enrollment of non-bumi should be continued to boost competency among students as well to promote national integration.i can see the students of different race living in harmony,everyone respect each other.one more thing,the enrolment also reminds the lazy malay student to study harder if they does not want to be underestimated by others.