Are we facing a surplus of teachers?

Lately, we've been hearing graduates from teaching courses complain of the difficulty of getting a teaching job in government schools. We've been wondering if Malaysia has an oversupply of teachers. Today, we read a statement by UPSI's VC Prof Datuk Dr Zakaria Kaza in an article on NST that basically confirms our suspicions.

• In the article, he says that UPSI graduates are getting jobs despite the surplus of teachers in the country. And there you have it, an admittance from the UPSI VC that there is a surplus of teachers in Malaysia.
• As of 30 June 2011, there is a total of 5,366,389 students enrolled in schools
• The number of teachers working at schools on the same date is 412,042
• That leaves us with a ratio of 1 teacher for every 13 student.