The Relationship Between Education and Politics in Malaysia

The Relationship Between Education and Politics in Malaysia By Norazura Abdollah Nur Harizah Mohd faiz Nurhashimah Mohamad Hashim Wan Nuruljannah Wan Ismail Sahaimi

EDUCATION IN MALAYSIA PREPARED BY; NORAZURA BT ABDOLLAH

Malaysia educational system is highly centralised, particularly for primary and secondary school, l The state and local governments having little say in the curriculum or other major aspects of education. l Standardised tests are common feature. l obtained from government sponsored schools, private schools or through home schooling. l

Education in Malaysia broadly consists of a set of stages: Pre- school l Primary education l Secondary education l Tertiary education l postgraduate l

Pre-school The government has no formal preschool curriculum for pre- schoolers except a formal mandatory training and certification to principals and teachers before they can operate a pre-school. l Attendance in a pre-school programme is not universal & generally only affluent families can afford to send their children to private pre-schools. l

Primary Education Consists of six years of education (Year 1 to Year 6) l (1998 - 2000) PTS was administered to Year 3 students but was removed from 2001 onwards. l Year 6 students in national schools are required to undergo a standardized test ; UPSR. l

The Primary Education System is divided into : l National school - SK l Vernacular schools -SRJK (C) and SRJK (T)

SECONDARY EDUCATION Consists of 5 years of schooling referred to as form 1 to form 5. l Form 3 – PMR formerly known as SRP l Form 5 - SPM l

Shortly after the release of the 2005 SPM results in March 2006, the Education Ministry announced it was considering reforming the SPM system due to what was perceived as over-emphasis on As “The rat race now begins at Standard 6 with the UPSR, with the Competition resulting in parents forcing their children to attend private tuition…. ” -A former Education Director-General, Murad Mohd Noor. He also expressed disappointment at the occurrence of students taking 15 Or 16 subjects for the SPM, calling it ‘UNNECESSARY’

PRE-UNIVERSITY l l l FORM 6 – consists of 2 years of studies. Lower 6 and Upper 6. internationally recognize and generally taken by those desiring to attend a public and private universities. Matriculation – one or two years programme run by Ministry of Education. A race based quota is applied on the admission process. 90%(bumiputeras) and 10%( nonbumiputeras) Private colleges- British A Levels programme or the equivalent of other national systems.

TERTIARY EDUCATION PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES- are subsidised by the government. l UM, USM, IIUM, UKM, UMS UNIMAS, UPM, UTM, UUM, UPSI- open to all Malaysians l Ui. TM- are restricted; bumiputras only. l

l PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES- Students pay full tuition fees, most of the universities are formed by Government Link Companies (GLC ) e. g. : MMU, UNITEN, UTP etc. l Delocalised universities- Monash University (Australia), Nottingham University (UK) etc. l Polytechnics- vocational, engineering programmes, commerce programmes. Offered diploma and certificates.

Racial quotas , a highly politicized and controversial issues in Malaysia; exist for university admission. However, in 2002 the government announced a reduction of dependence on racial quotas, instead leaning more towards MERITROCRACY.

POSTGRADUATE PROGRAMMES l All public and most private universities in Malaysia offers Master degrees either through coursework or research and Doctor of Philosophy Degrees through research.

The Relationship Between Education and Politics in Malaysia By Norazura Abdollah Nur Harizah Mohd faiz Nurhashimah Mohamad Hashim Wan Nuruljannah Wan Ismail Sahaimi

Educational Acts & Reports 1951 – Present day

A Glimpse of History… l Consolidation period Ø The Barnes Report 1951 Ø The Abdul Razak Report 1956 Ø Education Ordinance 1957 l Updating Period Rahman Talib Report 1960 Ø Education Act 1961 Ø l Currently Ø Education Act 1996

Barnes Report 1951 l Aimed at abolishing vernacular schools l “In principle, we recommend the end of the separate vernacular schools for the several racial communities, and the replacement by a single type of primary school common to all…”

Abdul Razak Report 1956 l l l Introduced after the ruling elite had acquired political power just before Merdeka Conducive to the growth of vernacular education “… a national system of education acceptable to the people of the Federation as a whole which will satisfy the needs to promote their culture, social, economic and political development as a nation, having regard to the intention of making Malay the national language of the country whilst preserving and sustaining the growth of the language and culture of other communities living in the country. ”

Education Ordinance 1957 l The fine tuned version of the recommendations of the Abdul Razak report Ø Formation of a single system of national education Ø Recognition of the eventual objective of making Bahasa Malaysia the main medium of instruction Ø Commencement of a Malaysia-orientated curriculum Ø Conception of a single system of evaluation for all

Rahman Talib Report 1960 l 1960’s education minister who headed a committee to: “review the education policy set out in the Abdul Razak Report 1956… in particular its implementation so far and for the future…”

Education Act 1961 Ø Stress on 3 R basic education. reading, writing and arithmetic Ø Stress on a strong spiritual education and the desired elements of discipline Ø Stress on a Malaysian curriculum Ø Upper secondary education of two streams, academic and vocational Ø Opportunity to continue education from 9 years to 11 years Ø Facilitation of education management procedures to improve the overall quality of education

Education Act 1996 Came into force in 1997, replacing the 1961 Act l Stress on science and technology l l “[The world now is] a world that is highly competitive and globalised, arising from the impact of the rapid development in science, technology and information. ”

Content highlights. . . Ø The national education system is designed to produce world-class education from the aspect of quality to achieve the nation’s aspirations Ø The National Education Policy (NEP) becomes the base for the national education policy Ø Duration of primary education is between 5 and 7 years

Ø Pre-school education is part of the national education system Ø Technical and polytechnic education are upgraded Ø Allocations are made for the supervision of private education

Effect on education after the NEP – New Economic Policy

The Quota System l The quota system has been the concrete form of the national education policy l In 2003 the quota system was removed and replaced by…

What is meritocracy? mer·i·toc·ra·cy (n). pl. mer·i·toc·ra·cies A system in which advancement is based on individual ability or achievement (from: dictionary. com)

Hot Issue… What is your opinion on The Quota System Vs Meritocracy

ANNUAL BUDGET 2007

ANNUAL BUDGET (2007) EDUCATION 21% (RM 34. 4 billion) ACQUISITION OF KNOWLEDGE NURTURING INNOVATION

PERSONAL BENEFITS

YEAR SIX STUDENT Increased monthly allowance for poor primary pupils from RM 30 to RM 50 l Two new MRSMs and existing MRSM facilities upgraded (RM 90 mil) l Scholarships for potential athletes l

FORM TWO STUDENT No exam fees next year (UPSR, PMR, SPM and STPM) l Increased monthly allowance for poor secondary students from RM 50 to RM 70 l Chinese and Tamil taught as subjects in 220 schools next year l More computers (RM 288 mil) and books in schools l

FORM FIVE STUDENT l More scholarships l For poor students with at least 10 1 As in SPM l For critical subjects More polytechnics and community colleges (RM 450 mil) l Better facilities in existing universities (RM 195 mil) l

NON-GRADUATE TEACHER More housing for teachers (67 new projects) l Eligible for professional development programmes (RM 838 mil) l Tax rebate for book purchases up to RM 1, 000 annually l

TRAINEE TEACHER 220 new primary and secondary schools to teach in (RM 1 bil) l Specialised schools to teach in l l Science and technology l Technical and vocational l Language and arts l Sports l Opportunities to specialise in special education

UNEMPLOYED GRADUATE l More opportunities to upgrade industry skills via l Securities Commission’s Capital Market Training Scheme (1, 000 places annually) l Training by established ICT companies l Job Camp programme by MDe. C (1, 000 places annually)

l Programme to Enhance Professionalism (5, 000 places annually) l Six new training institutions under Human Resource Ministry (RM 148 mil) l MARA training programmes (RM 214 mil)

GENERAL BENEFITS

l More scholarships to pursue critical courses such as science, pharmacy, medicine and engineering at graduate and postgraduate levels in both local and foreign universities.

l Terengganu & Kelantan will get their own universities. More polytechnics & community colleges will be built and upgraded. Existing universities will receive RM 195 mil for the upgrading of their facilities.

l RM 6. 7 bil is allocated for primary education and RM 6. 2 bil for secondary education to fund operational and development expenditure.

l 22 new primary and secondary schools to be opened next year, with the construction of an additional 198 schools, including fully residential secondary schools.

l RM 288 mil is allocated under the Bestari school programme to equip schools with more computers.

l Chinese will be taught as a full subject in 150 national primary and secondary schools while Tamil as a full subject will be taught in 70 schools from the beginning of 2007.

QUANTITATIVE vs QUALITATIVE