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Uncertain future for national schools?

Published by Afterschool.my on Aug 09, 2016, 04:23 pm

Evidence is stacking in favour of vernacular and private schools while the future of national schools is becoming increasingly uncertain, a new controversial study claims

Minister refutes claimsMinister of education Mahdzir Khalid

Mahdzir Khalid, the education minister, has dismissed the possibility of Chinese schools becoming mainstream schools in Malaysia. He told reporter at the launch of Setiawangsa Umno division meeting that this is an unlikely scenario.

The controversial studyKPM

The current state of national schools is becoming questionable especially as more data is being collected and more studies are paying serious attention to the matter. A two-year study conducted by the National Education Advisory Council claims that Chinese vernacular schools may become the main schools in the country within 10 years.

The story first broke late last week, citing the vernacular school claim, though the findings of the study are yet to be fully published. At this point, information has been hard to access, and it is unclear how the study was the methodology for data collection and analyses.

Claims of this magnitude can be worrying to authorities and parents alike. The study says that only 4% of non-Malay Malaysians enrol their children in national schools while 18% of Malay parents are enrolling their children in Chinese schools. The study says the rate is expected to increase in the coming years.

The claims went on to question the likelihood that the Education Ministry’s 2013-2025 Education Blueprint may fail due to the fact that an increasing number of Chinese, Indian and even Malay parents are more likely to refrain from going to national schools and tend to send their kids to vernacular and/or private schools.

The contributors to the study were a council of 13 members which included educators, corporate individuals, and former top-level officers in the education department. The findings of that study listed 5 main reasons why middle to upper income parents are keeping away from national schools (according to a report). These were:

  1. Inadequate teaching and poor delivery methods by teachers
  2. National schools administration tend to favour one race rather than favouring the skills and capabilities of the teachers and administrators
  3. Schools are becoming highly influenced by Islamic education
  4. Disciplinary issues are seen as a major problem among parents
  5. Lack of maintenance of school facilities and outdated computers

One of the major problems that was highlighted by Prof Dr Teo Kok Seong, a professor at the Institute of Ethnic Studies at the National University of Malaysia (UKM) and a former member of the council (2014-2016), suggested that teachers who have a proven performance record in a particular subject are not considered to head the panel of that subject due to racial matters. The Ministry of Education’s regulations do not permit or endorse such moves. According to sources we spoke to from the education districts within Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, panels of subjects are made up of diverse teachers and a head of a subject panel is selected based on experience and performance regardless of ethnicity. At this point, it is important to seek the facts either in support or to refute Dr Seong’s claims.

Additionally, he went on to assert that the constant clash between Muslim and non-Muslim parents regarding religious education is taking precedence. Muslim parents find Islamic education in national schools as inadequate, while non-Muslim parents are seeing national schools as too Islamic. Non-Muslim parents expressed discomfort regarding the religious sermons during school assembly and argued that national schools are not religious schools and are meant to be for all Malaysians. If data proves this to be true, there seems to be major lack of common ground to settle such issues within the social pillars of the community and in schools.

We spoke to a number of parents, Malays and non-Malays alike, they seem to have a negative perception with regards to the quality of education and teachers in national schools. They have expressed worry that national schools may not have the capabilities to catch up with the fast changing world and that adaptation might become increasingly more difficult for their children in the real world. Malay parents want to see their children excel at subjects like science, mathematics, computer education and sports and may look for alternatives. Could Chinese schools be the answer?

Attempts to improve schoolsMalaysian schools

Computer literacy seems to pop-up in any conversation among parents and concerned individuals as it is an absolutely important skill to have in today's economy and employment market. The Ministry of Education is trying to fix some of the problems that already exists in the system, and the introduction of computer education and coding in Malaysian national schools may start the journey of change desperately needed by national schools. The introduction of coding is expected to be implemented next year and officials hope that it would nurture higher level creative and cognitive thinking skills among Malaysian students.

This is an ambitious plan and can be promising, but it doesn’t come without problems. There is an on-going pilot programme on the teaching of computer coding in 22 schools. The programme has already brought serious matters to the discussion table and put the capabilities of teaching staff and facilities to question.

Are schools well geared for such plan? The pilot programme has highlighted the following problems:

  1. Lack of qualified teachers with relevant IT qualifications
  2. English as the medium of instruction can be troubling as experienced by previous attempts to teach science and mathematics in the English language
  3. The pilot programme reveals certain impediments like lack of computer technicians and ICT facilities and laboratories
  4. Current estimates suggest that 15.2% of teachers have exposure to coding in general
  5. Specialised teachers are likely to be needed

Why private schools?Chinese school in Sabah

In 2015, researchers from the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM), in the paper titled An assessment of factors influencing parents’ decision making when choosing a private school for their children, found that parents with a good educational background and sufficient income prefer to send their children to private schools for the following reasons:

1. School syllabus:

Private schools may have a syllabus that focuses on certain aspect of education preferred by parents. For instance: Parents who wish to see their children receive religious education, there are private schools with special focus on religious studies.

2. School environment and facilities:

Generally, it was found that most private schools have an environment that is well-suited to the learning process. Facilities are not restricted to academics only, these schools have facilities that allow activities like sports and recreation. Teaching staff and management play an important role in the process as well.

3. Schools academic performance:

Parents are more likely to gravitate around private schools that have a reputation of strong academic performance.

4. Quality of teachers:

Researchers have concluded on various occasions that private schools have the capabilities to produce better teachers with the requires knowledge, interpersonal and technical skills.

5. Other reasons include distance and location:

There are public schools closer to your home than private schools. That plays another important role in selection of private schools. The issue is mainly related to transportation provided by private schools. Unlike public schools, private schools aren’t distributed in a manner that balances out the supply and demand.

Reserve Judgmentget the facts straight

In any case, until more details emerge from the study itself and from the ministry of education, it is advisable to not be taken up by the hype of it all. Yes, national schools have much to answer for, but the data from this study has not been published, and it is rather farfetched to claim that national schools will no longer be the main schools in Malaysia. It is important to remember that things can change, new regulations might be introduced, syllabus in national schools might improve sometime soon, and that private and international schools can have issues of their own.

For example, the Guardian had reported earlier this month that private and international education is contributing to the segregation of certain communities and it would increase the social gap between the rich who can afford that kind of education and the poor who have to stick with public schools. Widening the socio-economic gap does not foster unity, it can potentially limit poor students’ access to quality education, may hamper the funding process of public school and the problems will continue to the tertiary level of education where the rich and powerful have nearly no competition in terms of employment while poor students may lose opportunities, leading to economic problems in the long-run. Again, this is not a new problem, but one that can be augmented if national schools stop playing a major role in Malaysian education.

Teachers perspectives must be taken into consideration as well. Many teachers work really hard and most teachers actually care about their students and their jobs. However, in terms of improvement, there are other issues that drag out their development process like the lack of funding and inconsistencies in the pedagogy process and environment. The room for improvement is huge and much attention is needed to address these problems.

Admittedly, there are many problems that the department of education needs to pay attention to and work towards a serious series of actions to fix and reform the national education in Malaysia. It is certainly a challenge. However, it is rather hasty to claim that there is a certain type of schools that will replace national schools when national schools are one of the most important options for citizens.

The future of national schools might be uncertain, but so is the future of education in general. Uncertainty is one of the main drivers of change that situates people in positions that require reforms and challenge the status quo of a certain period of time. The survival of national schools and reforms in the education system is absolutely important for the nation.

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