YOURSAY ‘We have a ‘world class’ education system because we say so.’

Is our education system still 'world class'?

Pemerhati: Around 1957, Malaya’s school education standards were comparable, if not better than Singapore’s as many Malayans with a grade 3 certificate, who could not get jobs as teachers in Malaya, became teachers in Singapore.

A CNN programme revealed that a comparative study of the various education systems showed that Finnish students produced very good results in various subjects when compared to students in United States and other countries.

This was attributed mainly to the fact that in Finland, the very best graduates were recruited to become teachers. Unfortunately in Malaysia, that is not the case.

After May 13, 1969 and especially after Dr Mahathir Mohamad became PM, the standards plunged because the main criteria for selection of teachers and other public servants were race and religion.

Now the whole system is rotten to the core and a lot of money is wasted on half-past-six teachers who are not only incompetent but also do very little work.

Anonymous_1372506588: In recent years, I have the good fortune to interact with Malaysian and Singapore students at an Australian university.

By and large the command of English of the Malaysian students is atrocious, and that of the Singapore students, good.

In addition, most of the Malaysian students produce examination grades that are either fair or poor. Inexplicably, many of the Malaysian students are on scholarship from one of the Malaysian government bodies.

If these are our scholars sent overseas, what would be the standard of students in the local universities?

Cantabrigian: It is interesting when we compare and contrast Malaysia’s education system with Singapore’s education system.

Both governments invest heavily on education and they are known to be restrictive when it comes to democratic rights, including freedom of expression and right to free speech.

However, one system churns out world-class students that are well-sought by every sector, while the other mass produces mediocre students who are marginal in their performance at best.

Damien: Most Malaysians are quick to politicise any issue that comes up.

If OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) ranks Malaysia poorly in terms of Maths and Science education, does it mean that overall our education system is poor?

If it's poor, why then do we see an influx of foreign students seeking education in our local universities? Last year alone, Unesco recorded a 16 percent increase in international students admission in our institutions of higher learning.

I am a PIBG (Parent-Teacher Association) committee member for my daughter's primary school and I can attest and re-assure Selayang MP Ong Kian Ming that the quality education that the schoolchildren there receive is nothing short of excellence compared to Ong’s schooldays.

Onyourtoes: The Swedish government has asked OECD to review its education system in 2014 and you expect Malaysia to do the same, Kian Ming?

Do you know the implications if Malaysia were to ask the same? It means we cannot hire nincompoop teachers and lecturers anymore. It means nincompoops can no longer become school principals, deans, heads of department, and even vice-chancellors. 

It means consultants can no long con us into buying their blue, pink and yellow prints.  It means education ministers can no longer pronounce education policies, rankings and performance at their own whims and fancies.

Abasir: Umno and PAS (yes both) have never really been perturbed by what they regard as fundamentally flawed rankings based on values, concepts, processes and theories totally outside the pale of ‘Islamic thought’.

That is the reason there has never ever been an emergency sitting of state assemblies, the cabinet, the fatwa council, the National Association of Professors or Parliament anytime such humiliating rankings are published.

In fact even the immensely rich ones who live in palatial abodes and frequently travel to OECD countries and who periodically express their ire, do not appear to be rankled by these numbers.

So Ong Kian Ming, please do not expect "our policymakers to acknowledge the weaknesses in our current education system". There are no weaknesses. We have a ‘world class’ education system because we say so.

Vijay47: We can expect a brilliant educated explanation from the minister of education. He will explain that these foreign measures of excellence are not founded on local realities and thus Malaysians should not be unduly bothered by what people with secret agendas have to say.

In any case, while Malaysia may not be among the leaders, it is doing much better than numerous other countries, including Albania, Botswana, Montenegro wherever that is, and Ghana. We are even ahead of Saudi Arabia which is a much wealthier country.

Malaysia Ku: Put it another way. Mathematically, we are 24 places above Ghana. So we are still superior, in a certain way, above another 24 nations. Hooray to our Malay-first education minister for a brilliant job done.

Singapore and the rest above us don't really matter as they don't use Malay as their medium of instruction. So we are actually No 1 for Malay-medium institutions. So really, it's a matter of semantics, no.

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