Education Minister Maszlee Malik found himself in the spotlight following media reports on his announcement that school students would have to wear black instead of white shoes starting next year.

According to him, the decision was based on the overwhelming requests from parents.

The announcement, however, courted brickbats from those who accused the minister of focusing on a trivial matter when the nation's education system appeared to be in dire need of rejuvenation.

Apart from the shoes, Maszlee had also touched on other matters during yesterday's forum in Shah Alam.

He spoke on increasing engagement between schools of different streams, reducing the workload of teachers and improving the image of the teaching profession...