When I first began my graduate degree, I got hit by education jargon such as "Bloom's taxonomy", "Barrett's reading taxonomy", "grammar-translation approach" and a host of other equally mind-boggling words in my first Teacher Development class. The jargon was overwhelming and faintly ridiculous, as I recall.

So it was with much amusement that I read Valerie Strauss' post at The Answer Sheet on how to create your own education jargon. Apparently there is even a website that generates educational jargon. Here are some of my favourites:

grow top-down multiple intelligences

engage holistic competencies

synergize intuitive undefined

It's been a little crazy for me the past week, and I've not had much time at the computer-- work, personal study and weddings (friends, not mine!) have kept me busier than usual. But fortunately not too busy to appreciate what others write, such as Nithya Sidhu's thoughtful tribute to Frank McCourt and teachers in general in today's edition of The Star: 

The ups and downs of teaching

TEACHER TALK
By NITHYA SIDDHU

While teachers impart knowledge and contribute to student progress, they too need to reflect and evaluate their triumphs and failures as the year comes to an end.

I always thought teaching was a simple matter of telling the class what you knew and then testing them and giving them grades. How was I to know how complicated the life of a teacher could be? — Frank McCourt

AS THE year draws to a close, my thoughts inevitably return to how the year has been for me. In particular, my life as a teacher this year. What did I really achieve? How much of what I taught sank in and made a difference? How much of it succeeded in bringing about positive change? What did I do right this year? What mistakes did I make?

Despite the years of experience I now have as a teacher, what new thing did I learn this year? Did I make an effort to be innovative? Did I create some ripples?

I ask all these questions of myself, but I sometimes wonder, “Do others also reflect and ask such questions?” Well, I know one thing. Frank McCourt did.

The Pulitzer-winning author and teacher, who passed away in July, was always hungry for ideas and information, often asking questions and seeking answers.

He not only wrote Angela’s Ashes, but also wrote about his teaching experiences in Teacher Man.

The book was about him — of his teaching career, how he coped, how he suffered, what his students were like, what they could be, what he would have liked them to be, and what some would never be, what his personal life was like, as opposed to his professional one.

The challenges of facing children with different personalities, wondering how to treat each one of them, getting it right, getting it wrong, learning by making mistakes, hitting the right note, hitting the wrong one, managing, inspiring, taking it in his stride, cursing, appreciating, procrastinating, caring too much or not caring at all, touching lives, being the brunt of parents’ complaints, being aware of diversity, mannerisms, upbringing, personality, attitude, being shouted at, shouting back, striking a chord, not striking one, bobbing, swimming, drowning — what a life! And, McCourt lived it.

An Irish man, this remarkable teacher was once very poor; as a child in Ireland, he even stole to survive extreme poverty; as an adult in America, he found his niche, first in teaching and then in writing.

He was a man who wasn’t sure if he were doing the right thing in class. He tried to understand the young charges he taught while he “examined his conscience”. Reading Teacher Man will make you realise how funny he was and how he inspired despite the glaring personal weaknesses he claimed he had.

Recently I borrowed the book to read it again. Parts of it made me laugh and parts of it made me feel like crying. And, I felt this kinship. The understanding that flows from one teacher to another. The empathy. The sympathy. The truth of our professional existence.

He was Irish, while I am Malaysian, yet as teachers our worlds are the same — our worries, our concerns, our weaknesses, our mistakes, our triumphs, our acceptance of the limitations of our students, and also that of ours. How similar we really are.

The work we do — it may be appreciated, it may be not. It may be glorified, it may be condemned. It may help a child find his way in life, or it may have little impact. It may also bring enlightenment or it may not. It may make a difference, or it may not.

But, the fact remains — we, who are teachers, have to do our jobs. We can either do them very well, making the most of our skills, knowledge and potential, learning as well as teaching, contributing significantly to student progress – or, we could do a cursory job and be done with it. The choice is ours.

As the year ends, think about it. Reflect. How are you as a teacher? Do you still harbour doubts about your own ability?

If you do, be brave and remember McCourt’s words, “You have to make your own way in the classroom. You have to find yourself. You have to develop your own style, your own techniques. You have to tell the truth or you’ll be found out.”

Every teacher is capable of doing good. To Frank McCourt – thank you for sharing your life with us and making us, the common teacher, realise how much we do for other people’s children.

By some strange miracle, Malaysia actually surpassed the Philippines in IELTS scores last year, according to IDP Education. The Manila Mail writes:

"Despite the claim that the Philippines is the third largest country in the world with the most number of people who can speak English, it is only second to Malaysia in the whole of Asia when it comes to proficiency in listening, speaking, writing and conversing in English. Andrew King, country director of IDP Education Pty. Ltd. Philippines, said the average overall score of Filipinos who took the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) last year was a poor 6.69 points where 7.0 was largely the passing score for those who took the test for migration to the usual countries that Filipinos seek to migrate to such as Australia....

According to King, Malaysians had an average overall score of 6.71, leading among countries in Asia in overall English proficiency. Philippines was second to Malaysia with 6.69; third was Indonesia with 5.99; fourth was India with 5.79; and Thailand fifth with 5.71."

Interesting that the article does not mention Singapore, considering that IDP does have an office in the island nation. Hmm.

However much you try, separating education and economics is like separating oil and water---the two don't really mix, but they're stuck together whether they like it or not.

Also an ingredient in this unlikely brew is politics and frankly, that's the case here in Malaysia and in the UK and US, whose leaders are now pressured more than ever to rejuvenate their respective education systems.Education is definitely the 'hot topic' in the latter two countries right now.

We've yet to see such strong fighting spirit from the Malaysian media or public for better education (evidently it isn't as 'sexy' as political or celebrity scandals). But I digress, after reading the following letter to Malaysiakini.com: 

What you must know about our economy

By Pak Sako

A new World Bank country report has this to say about Malaysia:

'The economy seems to be caught in a middle-income trap - unable to remain competitive as a high-volume, low-cost producer, yet unable to move up the value chain and achieve rapid growth by breaking into fast growing markets for knowledge and innovation-based products and services' (see page 53 of the full report).

We are unable to break into higher-value markets because our brightest minds leave the country in droves while our research institutions, such as our local universities, have woefully poor track records as far as research and innovation is concerned (negligible amount of publications in top academic journals and no significant, original product development; innovation effort against GDP per capita is lower than for Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines).

Our education system in general appears to stifle true and unbounded thinking and dissent — the preconditions for creativity and innovation. There are structural and institutional causes for this quagmire.
 

Read the rest of the letter here.

Oh the irony, the year-end school holidays are here and all I can think about is this new documentary about schools! I was reading The Guardian today, which featured a new independent documentary curiously titled We Are The People We've Been Waiting For, which explores the relevance of the UK school system, including whether the education system is too academic focused.

The documentary isn't available outside of the UK yet as it only premiered last week (in the UK), but the trailer is availabe on YouTube and it is quite impressive. The movie website is at http://www.wearethepeoplemovie.com/.

The article in The Guardian and documentary concept is food for thought for educators, especially in Malaysia, whose school system draws heavily from the British system.

What questions should we, as educators, be asking ourselves and our superiors? And are we Malaysians brave enough to subject ourselves to public scrutiny and very likely criticisms in the quest to give our children the quality education they deserve?

"You want to do what?"

The above is the reaction the average Malaysian straight As-in-PMR student ellicits from his or her parents after announcing the intention to enter the Arts and not Science stream at the upper secondary level.

Most 'dutiful children' falter and succumb to their parents' wishes that they join the ranks of their 'brainy' peers instead of pursuing their artistic interests. "What could be worse than being stuck with the under-performers in the Arts stream?", the student reasons.

Being stuck in a career that you hate at age 50 because you didn't listen to your inner voice when you were 15, for one.

I'm not a big fan of streaming, I think students should be exposed to the arts and sciences regardless of their academic abilities. But I do believe that students should be allowed to choose their own life path (I certainly did), regardless of how well it goes down with parents or peers.

Which is why I was delighted to read a post in today's The Answer Sheet that supports the teaching and learning of the arts. Clearly the biased view towards the sciences is universal, but as the blogger writes, this doesn't have to be the case.

Read the full story here.

The fathers of the three pupils who drowned in the Kuala Dipang tragedy on October 26 are suing the Ministry of Education (MOE) and 9 other parties for negligence, news wire Bernama wrote today.

Among the others named in the landmark suit are the Government of Malaysia, the Education Minister, the Perak State Education Department director, the head of the Kinta Selatan district education office, headmasters of Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Tamil (SJKT) Mambang Diawan and SJKT Gopeng.

There's a slim chance that the parents are likely to win this lawsuit, but the media attention it is garnering will hopefully create enough of a ruckus to scare the authorities into ensuring that children's safety are the top priority when they are at government-sponsored camps.

In the past, there have been numerous complaints about the lacksaidical attitude of handlers at the National Service training sites after reports of sudden deaths and freak accidents among students. Nothing of this scale has been reported however, so hopefully the MOE sits up and takes notice this time instead of sitting on their laurels and riding out the media storm.

Malaysian politicians never cease to amuse me with the bizarre things they say and do (or maybe I'm just easily amused). My theory is that our politicians are blessed with a unique gene that makes them fall irrevocably in love with themselves. And since love is blind, it does make you say and do very silly things against your better judgement.

Take for instance the brilliant views of our Deputy Education Mohd Puad Zarkashi on the usage of English in today's workplace, reported in great detail by The New Straits Times today:

"Malaysians in the private sector should use Bahasa Malaysia and not English to show pride of the national language, Deputy Education Minister Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi said yesterday. He said they used English 99 per cent of the time and hardly communicated in Bahasa Malaysia.

"This also occurs in government-linked companies where we have this weird culture of people speaking to each other in English instead of the national language," he said at the launch of the Bahasa Melayu International linguistics seminar here.

Puad said the private sector, by not using Bahasa Malaysia, had tarnished the image of the national language.

He said Malaysians should emulate the French, Japanese and Koreans who were loyal to their language."

That was as far as I got before I stopped reading the article, but if you insist on reading his monologue, here's the link to the story.

I came away wondering two things after reading the article:

1. It must be love---how else could the Deputy Education Minister forget that Japan and South Korea are spending gazillions hiring English teachers to train them to speak the language fluently?

2. Does his press aide still have a job?

3. How long will he have his job?

Dr. Lim Teck Ghee, director of the Center for Policy Initiatives is "at it again", this time with a commentary that poses pertinent questions about how public funds for research and development (R&D) are being utilised by public unis. In his article, Lim asks the following questions:

These questions include:

• What is the selection process used to determine investment in R&D in the country’s universities?
• Is there a fully competitive, transparent and accountable process in determining which universities/individuals receive funding?
• Who are involved in the selection process and how rigorous are the selection procedures at the university and individual researcher level?
• How is the monitoring of the scientific and commercial outcomes and deliverables conducted?
• What has been the return on investment in the R&D allocations to date?
• Are there issues related to leakages, wastage or inefficiencies of the allocations?
• Are reforms necessary in the way public funds are being disbursed for R&D in the universities?

Lim is justified in asking these questions,for despite the billions disbursed to Malaysian public unis over the years, our public unis have yet to make a name for themselves as R&D centres on the global stage.

However, I disagree with his lament about the so-called "policy discrimination" against public unis, as do some other readers. Private universities and colleges are for profit institutions, with their closer ties to the corporate world, shouldn't they be investing more in R&D or at the very least able to secure the corporate sponsorship they need. I don't think it's fair to ask the public to fork out cash to pay for private universities, when only a small segment of the population would only be able to afford to send their children to private universities anyway.

But I digress. I do agree with Lim that we the public should be asking questions about where our money is going and for what it is being utilised. A yearly audit of every public uni's R&D initiatives should be done to get to the bottom of this and thus lay to rest any suspicions about the misuse of public funds.

Source: http://bestofmichaeljackson.jclondon.com

I didn't grow up wanting to be a teacher. Like the rest of my family, I wanted to be "somebody" with a high-flying career, fancy car, fancy house, rich and gorgeous husbands, adorable kids--the whole works. I even walked the tried-and-true path in my family and did a 'marketable' degree.

Sound familiar? It's the life story of every other Asian adult, who over-achieves to please their parents, grandparents, but mostly nosy neighbours and extended relatives. Often, that means silencing your heart and doing what your brain has been force-fed with all your life.

If you're really lucky, a life-changing event (presumably one that does not kill you) happens to remind you of your ideals. Most people aren't so lucky, they go to their graves having lived someone else's life and wondering why they turned into grumpy old people.

But a rare few were lucky enough to follow their dreams, please their parents and live fabulous lives. But they didn't live to a ripe old age---think James Dean, Heath Ledger and now, Michael Jackson.

I'm writing this just an hour after watching MJ's "This Is It", which gives me plenty of pause for reflection. The first MJ song and music video I saw was "Beat It" at age six, and my fascination with his music and his roller-coaster life remains. And I realise now that I actually learnt quite a bit about education from the King of Pop:

Let children BE children. MJ didn't have that chance as a child, as he was forced to perform day in and day out to fulfill his father's ambitions. That meant no playing with other kids, no pets, no time off and no regular school. And look where that got him on a personal front as an adult. What can you do to avoid your kid crashing in about 20 years? Let them BREATHE. Stop this 24/7 cocktail of school, tuition and "co-curricular" classes. Your kid will thank you for it someday. 

Education outside the classroom. Sure, MJ was as guilty of radio-friendly pop fare as other pop stars. But he also wrote songs about loving the environment, racism and world peace---values that are not taught explicitly in schools (well, not in Malaysia, at least), but are more important than book knowledge.

Imagination is important. As an adult, Michael Jackson was not afraid to tap into his inner child (ok, maybe he went a bit too far with his Neverland ranch) but music videos like “Black or White” and “Man In The Mirror” showcased MJ's imaginative approach in teaching good values through his music. Imagination is one trait teachers can't have enough of. 

Don't stop believing. In a world where bad news is commonplace, MJ was one of a few singers who championed the rights of children, he believe they are future leaders of the world and told the world every chance he got. The next time you're feeling frustrated with that boy in your class who can't sit still or that group of girls who is always talking in class, remember that it is YOUR job too to believe in your “kids”.

Exceed your own expectations. Michael Jackson's first solo effort "Off The Wall" won him five prestigious music awards and 37% of the wholesale album profits. He surpassed his and the industry's expectations in 1982 with his "Thriller" album, which remains the best-selling album of all time. Then came "Bad", which had five no.1 hits, more than any album at the time. His concert tour broke two Guiness World records in 1987. And that was just during the first few years of his solo career.

Bottom-line: MJ taught me that to always aim higher. As  with other careerists, a teacher's greatest pride is accomplishing the impossible.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has ignited a brain-drain debate between Pakatan Rakyat and Parti Gerakan after telling the Parliament recently that the state lost over RM10 billion in foreign investment because it did not have the 1,000 engineers wanted by the foreign investor, writes The Straits Times:

According to Lim’s chief of staff Jeff Ooi, the specifications laid down by the potential investor were such that Penang could not fulfil them. He and other state officials declined to identify the Western European company involved.

“We have a shortage of engineers in Penang, and the investor specified that it needed senior electrical and electronic engineers, which we do not have in big supply,” Ooi told The Straits Times.

It spelt bad news for Malaysia, coming amid a sharp drop in foreign direct investments (FDI) into the country.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak recently revealed that the country’s net FDI plunged to RM3.6 billion in the first six months of the year, compared with RM19.7 billion in the same period last year.

It seems like every other day there are new developments in the controversy surrounding the government's proposed single stream school system. The biggest chunk of protests is coming from the Malaysian-Chinese community, who refuse to give up the quality education produced by Chinese vernacular schools.  Their protests are likely echoed by the minority of Malay and Indian parents whose children also attend these schools, having given up on the mediocre state of national schools.

The  Star ran a commentary last week, surmising that the quality of national schools should be improved instead of implementing a single stream school system. I couldn't agree more, but I also believe that English should be made the primary medium in national schools, with a student's mother tongue be made a compulsory subject. It has worked for Singapore (the Singaporeans I know speak far more refined Mandarin than a lot of Malaysians I know, even those who were educated in Chinese vernacular schools). It has also worked for a multi-language country such as India (English is the medium of instruction in national schools and in universities), where its people are able to communicate effectively in English and speak four of five Indian languages to boot!

But of course our government can't take the words of one educator and a few concerned journalists as gospel, perhaps the Ministry of Education should come up with a white paper, like the US did on improving teacher quality (see my previous post). The MOE should produce a white paper on the revamp of national schools and publish the findings on its website for the public to comment on, like the PM did for this year's budget.

Time is running out, the futures of the young should not be gambled with any longer. The longer we delay on the revamp of our public schools, the faster other, more forward-looking nations will get ahead of us.

Between the years 2001 and 2002, there were 10,000 unemployed graduates, a number which has swelled to 163,000 for the year 2008-2009, Dr. Lim Teck Ghee, director of the Centre For Policy Initiatives writes in a commentary in The Sun Daily. In his article, he calls for an explanation for the RM1.3 billion allocated for the training and retraining of unemployed graduates in the country.

The numbers cited by Lim in his article are staggering and his arguments against these retraining programmes justifiable. Every parent of a school-going child should question, why, year after year more and more funds are allocated for graduate retraining yet the numbers of unemployed grads are rising. The hundreds of millions should have been poured into raising the quality of education in public universities,  even your local 'mamak stall' proprietor could work that out. I fully agree with Lim that if the problem is nipped in the bud, the rest will take care of itself.  Yet 8 years since the first graduate training programme was introduced, the powers-that-be are still touting the break-and-fix approach. Is it any wonder that Malaysian parents continue to scrimp and save to send their children abroad for their post-secondary education?

The US' National Academy of Education has released a white paper on teacher quality that all educators (and administrators) can learn from, regardless of nationality. It is precisely this kind of dedication and solidarity of purpose in reforming education that the Malaysian Ministry of Education should make its mission.  Professional development programmes for school teachers in Malaysia today are sporadic and outdated, trapping promising human capital in a cocoon of mediocrity. (And yes, I'm aware how dramatic that reads, but it's the truth. Any teacher who has attended a state-funded motivational or skills training course will know exactly what I mean).

Normally, I'm not a big fan of press releases, but the brief on the Reuters' site had more than piqued my interest. And so I visited the NAE website to take a look at the complete white paper.

Here are some of the NEA's recommendations (the full white paper is available at http://www.naeducation.org/Teacher_Quality_White_Paper.pdf):

RECOMMENDATION 1: School districts, states, and the federal government should continue to experiment with various approaches to teacher recruitment, while collecting data that can be used to improve approaches that are promising and end those that are not. Tools should be developed that can reliably establish that these new recruits have the skills they need to be successful from the start.

RECOMMENDATION 2: States, school districts, and the federal government should support research on a variety of approaches to teacher preparation. Investments should be made in research and development on the core practices and skills that early career teachers require; preparation programs should then focus on these skills.

RECOMMENDATION 3: States and the federal government should encourage and fund experimentation with a wide range of teacher retention strategies. This should include strategies that target individual teachers,such as financial incentives, as well as strategies
that target schools and districts through initiatives to improve school leadership, mentoring, and the provision of high-quality opportunities for professional growth. The federal government should also support the development of robust and valid measures of teacher quality that can be used in identifying which teachers are effective and should be retained.

RECOMMENDATION 4: Districts, states, and the federal government should take steps to improve teachers’ access to high-quality professional development that is appropriate to the grades, subjects, and students they are teaching. The federal government
should invest in research and development to strengthen professional development strategies.

Research suggests there are some key features of effective professional development for content teaching:
• It focuses on deepening subject matter knowledge specifically for teaching, including understanding how students learn and the specific difficulties they may encounter in mastering key concepts
• It involves enough time for significant learning (for example, a course or program of 40 or more hours distributed over 12 or more months)
• It is coherently related to what teachers are being asked to do and builds on what teachers already know and are able to do
• Educators are actively engaged, rather than just listening to a lecture or watching a demonstration and
• Teams of teachers from the same school participate and learn together, enabling them to support each other in using what they have learned.

Budget 2010  is finally out and (predictably), a yawn-fest for many sectors who had been waiting with bated breath. I can't say I'm surprised, given the government's escalating belt-tightening. But hey, that's the scenario with nearly all governments trying to keep their economies afloat in the still-bleak global investment climate. Nevertheless, there are noteworthy "goodies" for those in the education and research community:

For R&D efforts:

- Rationalising all research funds and grants to be more effective to achieve set targets

-A National Innovation Centre supported by a network of innovation excellence centres under the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry and in collaboration with the Higher Education Ministry

- Integrating R&D activities with patents, copyrights and trademarks registration to ensure R&D&C processes are implemented more effectively.

- Providing small and medium enterprises with tax deduction on expenses incurred in the registration of patents and trademarks in the country.

For schools:

-The government will allocate RM30 billion for primary and secondary education-includes emoluments (RM19 billion), RM2.8 billion for student assistance and scholarship programme, RM1.6 billion for the construction of 80 new schools as well as 1,100 additional blocks and 347 school replacement projects.

-In addition, a sum of RM1.1 billion is provided to refurbish and upgrade schools nationwide, especially in Sabah and Sarawak.

-National Key Result Areas (NKRA) with focus on widening access to quality and affordable education. It aims to ensure the rakyat receives the best education, from foundation to the highest level. For this, focus will be given on four NKRA sub-components, namely:
• Strengthening pre-school education — The government will incorporate pre-school education as part of the mainstream national education system. To date, the participation rate of children 22 between 5 and 6 years old in government and private pre-schools is at 67 per cent. The government aspires to increase the participation rate to 87 per cent by 2012.

To achieve this, all pre-school facilities and curriculum under Kemas and other agencies will be revamped, in line with the policy and standards stipulated by the Ministry of Education Ministry. Private pre-schools are also given the opportunity to participate in this initiative. In addition, the government will establish centralised preschools in existing school premises as well as provide training and courses to government and private pre-school teachers. For this, an allocation of RM48 million will be provided in 2010.

-Increasing literacy and numeracy rate — A number of normal school-going children in primary schools are yet to be proficient in basic literacy and numeracy skills. The government aims to ensure that 100 per cent of all normal school children will master basic literacy and numeracy after three years of schooling. Among the programmes that will be implemented include provision of special modules for students and teachers, student screening according to capabilities as well as special training programmes for teachers. This measure will commence in 2010, involving all Year 1 schoolchildren with an allocation of RM32 million.

- Creating high performance schools — The government will classify identified schools as high performance schools (SBT). SBT will focus on academic excellence, overall students’ achievements, including discipline and cleanliness, curriculum activities as well as competency in schools’ specialisation areas. The government targets 20 schools to be recognised as SBT in 2010 with an allocation of RM20 million.

-For excellent performing schools, the government will introduce the New Deal or Bai’ah as an appreciation of the contribution and performance of principals and head teachers. The government will determine the performance targets that must be achieved, as agreed by principals and head teachers. If the targets are achieved, rewards in the form of monetary and non-monetary incentives, as well as autonomy in school administration will be accorded. However, for those who fail to meet the targets for two consecutive years, necessary action will be taken.

For students, the government will

-Award National Scholarships to 30 crème de la crème students strictly based on merit. These scholarship recipients will further their education in world renowned universities

- Convert the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) loans to scholarships for students who graduate with first class honours degree or equivalent, beginning 2010

- Provide a 50 per cent discount on fares for long-distance services of Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) to students aged 13 and above. A complimentary 1Malaysia student discount card can be obtained from KTMB. This discount will commence Jan 1, 2010

- Offer a Netbook package, including free broadband service, to university students for RM50 per month for two years. This package is cheaper than the current market price. Priority will be given to first year students and those from low-income families. For a start, this package will be offered by Telekom Malaysia to 100,000 local university students, effective Jan 1, 2010.

For public higher education institutions

-The government will consider granting IPTA greater autonomy in managing finance, human resources, administration, student intake and income generation. With greater autonomy, for example, Ipta will be allowed to establish subsidiaries to generate revenue. To achieve this objective, the government will consider relaxing rules and regulations, which hinder IPTA from generating their own income.

Malaysia Today's Raja Petra had an interesting post today on the long-forgotten concept of Malaysian Inc. Although I don't always agree with his ways, I can't deny that Raja Petra has a convincing and fact-packed writing style, hence his loyal following. The country needs more high-level thinkers like him who dare to change, the latter quality which is still sorely lacking in our education system. He's named our education system as one of the top ten problems plaguing the nation (i.e. Malaysia Inc):

"What is the top ten? I would say a failing education system, state-endorsed or institutionalised racism, abuse of power, corruption, wastage of public funds, lack of transparency and accountability, attitude problem, no civility or courtesy, serious crime problem, and arrogance, though not necessarily in that order.

Now, if we can attack those top ten items, in particular the top five or six, 80% of the country’s problems will be solved. And many of the other problems will also automatically solve themselves."

Showing similar love for people and progress is The Star's P.Gunasegaran, a well-respected veteran Malaysian journalist who shares his ideas for educational reform in his article "10 Ways to 1 Malaysia":

"Move to a single school system over the long term: Yes, the constitution guarantees vernacular schools. But to continue with this where schoolchildren of various races no longer mingle at work and play as the educational system becomes polarised is extremely unsatisfactory. Some system should be devised where mother-tongue education can continue unabated and at the same levels as now within a unified single school system. This is a major cause of disunity and can be changed if there is consensus.

Abolish racial quotas: Racial quotas are archaic as a means of achieving social distribution aims. The idea should be to help all disadvantaged. If that is done, and if a particular race as a whole is disadvantaged, it will automatically be helped more. That removes the considerable social angst and divisiveness of racial quotas and directly fosters national unity.

Move towards equality of opportunity, not outcome: To do away with a dependence habit and to encourage and reward effort, the aim should be equality of opportunity. All disadvantaged groups can be given some forms of advantage to redress imbalances without bringing into play the question of race.

Award scholarships, university places etc based on need and merit: There are two ways to award places in universities and give scholarships – according to need and according to merit. When poor and disadvantaged groups need to be given a leg up, clear guidelines can be set and adhered to so that the process is transparent, effective and not based on race.

Introduce anti-discriminatory legislation and enforce it scrupulously: No one should be discriminated against anywhere on the basis of race, religion, language or gender. This should be clearly set forth unambiguously in legislation and a commission set up to enforce it. In any country where there are minorities who are citizens, their rights must be scrupulously protected to ensure national unity.

Singapore is shifting its spending from infrastructure to education next year, a sign the export-dependent country fears an economic rebound may not hold without government support, says Reuters.

Wishing all my Hindu readers a happy and prosperous Diwali. May it bring your peace, good fortune and the blessings of the universe.

There's never enough government funds for all schools, and as we all know only too well, partially public-funded vernacular schools are lower down the priority list of an already financially-strapped government . Rather than whine about their state, a couple of Chinese schools in Perak recently mulled the idea of getting into the palm oil game to generate more funds. Yup, you read right: PALM OIL. Their idea didn't quite pan out, but hats off to them all the same for thinking out of the box.

Higher education costs are rising globally, however a good number of international students, Malaysians included, remain undeterred in pursuing a prestigious undergraduate or postgraduate degree in the UK. Have you wondered however, why is it you pay a whole lot more in tuition fees than the "locals"?

Mike Reddin, the 'architect of international student fees tables' , as The Guardian puts it, has the answers.

The Business Mirror ran an article yesterday on a new report by UNESCO, which says that there's an acute shortage of teachers in the Asia Pacific region:

"With over 10 million teachers needed worldwide to reach the United Nations Millennium Development Goal target of reaching universal primary education by 2015, the Southeast Asia and  Pacific region is facing a shortage.

With an estimated prospective shortage of more than 1.1 million teachers, it also faces the corollary problem of funding, recruiting and training this vast number, according to a new report released recently by the Institute for Statistics of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco)."

According to the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, teachers from Malaysia and Brazil spend on average the largest portion of classroom time (18 per cent) dealing with disruptive students, compared to the international average of 13 percent. Read the full article here.

William Leong, the PKR Member of Parliament for Selayang, wrote in The Malaysian Insider today that our country is afflicted with "Dutch Disease" or the "Resource Curse". Here's a snippet of Leong's article:

"Malaysia has exhibited the classical symptoms of the “Dutch Disease” or the “Resource Curse”. The term “Dutch Disease” was coined in 1977 by the Economist to describe the decline of the manufacturing sector in the Netherlands after the discovery of a large natural gas field in 1959, culminating in the world’s biggest public-private partnership, N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie between Esso (now ExxonMobil) Shell and the Dutch government in 1963, only to see the rest of its economy shrinking.

It refers to the paradox that countries with an abundance of natural resources, specifically resources like minerals and fuels, tend to have less economic growth and worse development than countries with fewer natural resources."

Here's what he has to say on human capital and education:

"The oil and gas revenue-driven economic growth lulled Umno and the BN government to misconstrue the importance of maintaining excellence in our education system. This allowed misguided and mismanaged policies to turn our schools and universities into factories churning out unemployed and unemployable graduates.

This has resulted in our nation suffering a severe underperformance of our education standards. Malaysia tertiary enrolment and completion ratio has lagged that of some of our Asian counterparts. At 28.6 per cent and 15 per cent, Malaysia’s gross tertiary enroll ratio and completion ratio are 7 per cent and 6 per cent lower than the average expected of economies with similar level of GDP per capital.

This means Malaysia is having a tertiary skills shortage. This point to Malaysia lacking the necessary skills and knowledge human capital essential to move the Malaysian economy up the value added chain."

..."With the labour force growing, unemployment rate has stayed range bound at around 3 per cent and with the skills shortage, graduates surprisingly continues to make up an increasing proportion of the unemployed group from 15.2 per cent in 2000 to 25.1 per cent in 2007.

The government, in answer to a question I posed in Parliament, gave the following breakdown of unemployed graduates:-

Ethnic breakdown of unemployed graduates in Malaysia Year    Total   Chinese Indian  Malay

2004    4,594   163     207     4,060

2005    2,413   31      70      2,186

2006    56,750  1,110   1,346   50,594

2007    56,322  1,348   1,401   49,075

2008 (until June)    47,910  1,403   4,694   41,813 Source: Ministry of Human Resources

[Editor’s note: The figures above refer to graduates who registered with the Human Resources Ministry to find jobs. Compared with Malay graduates, Chinese and Indians may prefer to use job recruitment services from the private sector.]

The predominance of Malay unemployed graduates who are overwhelmingly from public universities suggests that we have a problem of graduate skills mismatch.

Singapore in comparison has its universities design their curriculum in collaboration with the industry players. The majority of the students are offered jobs before they graduate and 82 per cent are employed within three months of their graduation."

Not a pretty sight is it?

Dr. Lim Teck Ghee of the  Centre For Policy Initiatives has written a thought-provoking article on the NEP's effect on the state of public higher education. With the recent complaints I've heard from peers in public unis whose rankings fell in the Times-QS 2009 rankings, I didn't bat an eye at the stats on unemployed graduates.

When my foreign peers try to make sense of the pro-majority quota system in place, I explain to them it's like when South Africa used to bar coloured people from restaurants and schools that white people went to, the 'white schools' were given the best of everything while the coloured students were denied similar benefits. As a result, the white kids grew into smarter and richer adults and the education-income gap between the coloreds and whites widened considerably.

Then I tell my friends to picture the same thing about Malaysia, except that the quota system here doesn't really care about making the majority race into excellent students or a superior workforce. So not only is the majority depriving their superior race of competing on the world stage, they are actually instilling even more resilience and determination in the denied minorities to outperform the majority.

The US has long abolished such race-based policies, and so has South Africa, once notorious for its apartheid system. Why? Because this race-based system doesn't work. When every other nation is harnessing its homegrown talent collectively and not by to race or class, what chance do countries with a 'weak link' like ours have to shine? How ironic it is that our ancestors banded together to fight domination from one race and that we now perpetuate a similarly unjust supremacy.

I still remember the tears in the eyes of a friend who grew up in South Africa being forced to learn Afrikaans in schools and not being allowed in certain restaurants, having separate restrooms from the white kids in school. Those years are long gone for my friend, but in the 21st century, right here in Malaysia, we still have universities who are exclusively for a certain religion or race.

Update: An interesting letter to Malaysiakini on this thorny issue.

O' Reilly Radar has a compelling post about educational programming today:

"Our public broadcasting system should re-invent itself as a network for educational programming. Moreover, it should specifically focus on increasing public interest and engagement in science and civics. This is a vital public mission -- promoting science and technology literacy and creating a greater understanding of our own system of government.

Even in an age of YouTube, broadcast television has the ability to reach even those people who don't have ready access to the Internet. Television is a lowest common denominator, technologically speaking, and so it serves nearly everyone. That's why we should still care that some portion of broadcasting be allocated to serving a public good."

It struck me that educational programming the kind that actually involves educators is doable here in Malaysia, given the recent lament about our shortfall of scientists. The only questions left are "who", "how" and of course, "how much"?

University Malaya shot up 50 places to bag the 180th spot on this year's Times Higher Education (THE) – QS World University Rankings, says today's edition of The Star. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia jumped to the 320th spot from 356 last year. However, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia and Universiti Putra Malaysia saw a decline in their rankings.

Good job, UM! Hope you edge us into the top 100 next year.

Read the full story here.

Update: The Times Online writes:

"...improved showings by institutions in Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Malaysia.

Philip Altbach, director of the Centre for Higher Education at Boston College in the US, says several factors are behind the surges by Asian institutions.

"These countries have invested heavily in higher education in recent years, and this is reflected in the improved quality in their top institutions," he says. "They have also attempted to internationalise their universities by hiring more faculty from overseas ... this helps to improve their visibility globally."

"These universities have also stressed the importance of their professors publishing in international journals, which has no doubt increased the visibility of their research."

Meanwhile, UM VC Professor Datuk Dr Ghauth Jasmon told The Malaysian Insider that local universities need to spend a minimum of RM200 million in research to be among the top universities in the world. Click here to read the story.

The National University of Singapore has invited Yale to help plan a new liberal arts college in the island nation, according to Yale Daily News. According to the article, Yale administrators say the US university may partner with NUS to jointly open a campus in Singapore, however nothing has been decided.

According to a recent Swedish study, a woman with a university education can positively influence her and her partner's chances of a long life, says the BBC:

"A man whose partner had only a school education has a 25% greater risk of dying early than if she had had a university education, it suggests.

The authors say educated women may be more likely to understand the various health messages their families needed."

Read the whole article here.

Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin yesterday reiterated the government's commitment to education. I'm not sure I agree with his comparisons, given that we should be benchmarking to global standards, but he appears well-meaning and willing to listen to the people.

Budget 2010 is just around the corner and to date, there has been plenty said in news websites and blogs about personal income tax cuts, new incentives for businesses and even incentives for tertiary education institutions. Yet incentives for individuals pursuing an education or whose children are being educated are still lacking and I fervently hope at least one of these areas will be addressed in the upcoming budget.

My Budget 2010 wish list

1) Income tax deductions for taxpayers who are currently repaying student loans from government agencies/institutions (e.g. PTPTN, MARA, JPA, etc) and other qualified student loans approved by the LHDN and MOHE. Deductions should be made available to individual taxpayers within a specified income bracket, to reduce the burden of  paying for their education.

It sure beats barring errant loan payers from leaving the country, positive reinforcement often works on adults the same way it did when they were teens or children.

2) Higher tax deductions for working adults pursuing their post-graduate degrees. And how about widening the scope of degrees to include the arts, that way the government can also address the shortage of qualified teachers for instance.

What's available now: RM5,000 tax relief for post-graduate degrees in the fields of law, accounting, Islamic financing, technical, vocational,  industrial, science or technology. With Masters degrees in science and technology at local private universities costing some RM60,000 in tuition fees alone, RM5,000 is simply not enough. With the economy as it is, salary hikes and promotions are scarce, RM10,000 would be a more reasonable amount.

3) Special tax relief for parents who have children with special needs but can't afford to send them to special centres and therapy.

Other tax reliefs currently available to individual taxpayers:

A maximum of RM3,000 tax relief for your child's education insurance policy
A maximum of RM3,000 under the Skim Simpanan Pendidikan Nasional programme
A maximum of RM1,000 for book purchases

Speaking of books, the government may want to consider giving special tax incentives to bookstore chains and book distributors who slash prices on education-related books and textbooks for primary, secondary and tertiary-age students.Books are still far too expensive and inaccessible to the masses.After all, how many lower-income Malaysians can afford to shelve out RM1,000 a year to buy books, especially when they may not even be taxable?

In the spirit of Budget 2010, I've designed a  poll for the more edu-centric amongst us:

[polldaddy poll=2078647]

The Sun Daily said today that the government has made it compulsory for all 469 private colleges in the country to take the Establishment Audit (EA) with immediate effect. More here.

Today's edition of NST Online has an article on the current state of things in Malaysia's  national schools. The suggestions mooted by activists from the Parent Action Group for Education (Page) are not new. Still, I did notice  a few key takeaways worth highlighting:

• National schools that want to keep teaching Mathematics and Science in English should be allowed to do so.


• The ministry needs to divorce politics from education and stand firm on policies.


• Make it compulsory for students in national schools to take a third language.


• The ministry should hire more language teachers.


• Review the way teachers are trained at colleges and universities.


• The ministry should  introduce a policy making it compulsory for schools to celebrate all key cultural and religious festivals

Hopefully it won't take a miracle or act of God for the ministry to act on at least one of the above suggestions.

According to today's The Star Online, the Ministry of Higher Education has come up with some new ideas to motivate private IPTs (tertiary learning institutions) . Among the proposals that have been put forward:

• Investment Tax Allowances (ITA) for private IPTs which offer more Science and Technology programmes to achieve a 60:40 ratio.


• The ITA will be extended to encourage private IPTs to offer these programmes at competitive fees, attracting local and international students alike.


• To encourage private IPTs to upgrade their infrastructure and facilities, the ministry will propose that Industrial Building Allowance (IBA) be increased from 10% to 15%.


• Double deductions on tax exemptions for sponsoring their staff to pursue postgraduate studies and on for fees paid in acquiring full accreditation from the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA).


• To promote the use of ICT, a 50% reduction on software license fees and tax exemptions for online journal subscriptions and broadband services.


• Tax exemptions on income for private IPTs whose international student cohort comprise at least 40% of their total enrolment.”

Read the rest of the article here.

Yesterday, Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Khaled Nordin told Bernama that Malaysian unis are not issuing fake PhDs, and that there are no lecturers with fake PhDs teaching at any local public or private university.

Ok, we get it, we don't have to worry about our kids being taught by lecturers with 'bogus' degrees. I suppose 'bogus' lecturers who fake papers and books (i.e. plagiarise) are more credible examples? Seems to be the case with the lecturers at UPM who got away scot free despite media exposure of their wrong-doing (word on the street is that they were outed by a fellow academic).

Over tea yesterday, a friend remarked rather candidly that the two lecturers would have been strung up if they hadn't belonged to a certain ethnic group. Assuming my friend's allegations are true, given that these lecturers also teach students from their own ethnic group, aren't they setting a poor example to their youth as well? Are all the efforts being taken by the PM and rest of government to liberalise the NEP destined to fail , due to a few (but costly) incidents like these which brand the country negatively?

There's a time and place for everything, particularly dirty laundry. Terence Fernandez of The Sun Daily hung that laundry up to dry for everyone to see in today's "Down To Earth" column. Fernandez clearly has (honest) educators and students' interest at heart, makes me wish there was a place in the newsroom too for me and my fellow educators to share the gruesome details from the trenches we call the public education system. But alas therein lies the irony, our hands are bound and lips sealed by the need to stay employed as educators, so we rely on fearless journalists like Fernandez for silent triumphs, for our voices to be heard.

But still, he is just one of a few good men who are striving to be agents of change in a sea of apathetic citizens. This country needs more than the voices of a handful, it needs action. I end this post with a quote from one of my favourite movies 'V for Vendetta': "People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people."

To Fernandez and other journalists out there who wield their mighty pen despite the odds, thank you.

More than half of teenagers from UK schools are 'downloading' their schoolwork from the Internet, says a recent article on the impact of mobile phones and the Internet on education by The Times Online. I wonder what numbers in Malaysia are like?

Even with all the wrongs in the Malaysian education system, we have done some things right, keeping our literacy rates high  for one (88.7% according to the UNDP 2007/2008 report). Thailand's The Nation has an excellent opinion piece on International Literacy Day. I've included the full article here for easy reading:

Celebrating International Literacy Day: Need for new commitments in the Asia-Pacific region

Published on September 8, 2009

Literacy is a basic human right, guaranteed under the right to education enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and it will be celebrated this year across the world today.

Literacy strengthens the capabilities of individuals, families and communities to develop and to achieve. A lack of literacy is strongly correlated with poverty, and those who can use literacy skills to defend their legal rights have a marked advantage over those who cannot.

Literacy thus paves the way for social and gender equity as well as broader societal development. Women who have benefited from literacy programmes have noted the sense of empowerment, economic independence, and social emancipation they have gained through these programmes. Literate mothers are more likely to send their children to school. Promoting literacy among adults thus supports the creation of literate societies and increases the extent to which people play an active role in their personal development and the development of their communities.

According to the Education for All Global Monitoring Report (GMR) 2009, there are 776 million illiterate adults in the world and two-thirds are women. Similarly, there are 75 million school-aged children who are out-of-school globally.

The Asia-Pacific region has relatively high rates of illiteracy overall, accounting for 70 per cent of the world's population, but there are key differences among the various sub-regions, as well as at the national and local levels.

Illiteracy rates are highest in the countries with the greatest poverty. Moreover, in countries with comparatively low literacy rates, rural-urban disparities are also large. South Asia and West Asia also face significant gender imbalances in literacy.

East Asia has a relatively high adult literacy rate (93 per cent), up from 82 per cent in the 1985-1994 to 2000-2006 periods. The dramatic increase in literacy in East Asia between these decades is largely attributable to China, where efforts to increase primary school participation and targeted adult literacy programmes enabled 110 million people to gain literacy.

Despite these achievements, 112 million adults in the region (71 per cent of whom are women) still lack basic literacy and numeracy skills. Countries such as Laos and Cambodia, for example, still face significant challenges in terms of overall literacy. Central Asia has the highest adult literacy rate (99 per cent) in the whole region.

In the Pacific region, nearly 1.7 million adults still lack basic literacy skills, with the majority in Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu. Moreover, significant gender disparities were noted in Papua New Guinea, where only 80 adult women are literate for every 100 adult men.

In South, and West Asia, 64 per cent of the adult population can read and write with understanding. In Bangladesh and Pakistan, levels are around 50 per cent. The regional literacy rate has increased substantially since 1990, when it stood at 47 per cent, but the rates for this region are still among the lowest in the world.

There are also substantial differences between rural and urban literacy rates in the region. In Pakistan, for example, the rural literacy rate is 44 per cent, compared with 72 per cent for urban areas. Literacy rates are particularly low in remote rural regions, including areas inhabited by ethnic minority populations.

To overcome the situation, countries in the region have developed programmes and activities in literacy and continuing education. Basic literacy, post literacy and some forms of continuing education, including income-generating activities have been developed.

Community Learning Centres (CLC) as multi-purpose learning centres have been established and promoted in most countries. The CLCs are able to generate community participation and link literacy and continuing education programmes directly to people's lifestyles, which helps to motivate learners and community people to join in learning activities.

Over the past fifty years, there has been an evolution in the understanding of literacy from a conventional view (skill acquisition), to a functional view, to a broader vision of literacy that encompasses human rights, democracy, and social development. Along with this expanded vision has come an awareness that we can no longer speak of "literates" and "illiterates", but must view literacy as a continuum and speak of "levels of literacy".

In viewing the changing context of globalisation, new skills and knowledge should be provided to citizens to make them better equipped to meet global needs, and contribute to national development and promote peace and cultural harmonisation.

Thailand is one of the countries with satisfactory success in reducing illiteracy. Between 2000 and 2005, the literacy rate increased for all regions of the country. The overall rate of literacy (15 years and over) increased from 92.6 per cent in 2000 to 93.5 per cent in 2005. This was possible because of strong dedication and strong policies and programmes at the centre, as well as at the grassroots level.

This year, International Literacy Day puts the spotlight on the empowering role of literacy and its importance for participation, citizenship and development. "Literacy and Empowerment" is also the theme for the 2009-2010 biennium of the United Nations Literacy Decade (2003-2012).

Most countries celebrating this year's International Literacy Day have made a commitment to repeat their commitments to eradicating illiteracy. Reinforcing transparent governance and efficient management of capacity building is one of the most prominent actions to support literacy efforts.

Assessment, monitoring, and evaluation need further development to inform planning and account for results. Given the complex and diverse links of literacy with other sectors, governments should facilitate inter-ministerial collaboration, as well as collaboration with, and within civil society to ensure complementary - not duplicative - actions.

The mid-decade progress report on UNLD in Asia and the Pacific region pointed out that there is still a lack of political will in the eradication of illiteracy in many countries, so problems of poverty, gender inequality and discrimination persist.

Education sector policies should systematically include the needs of adult and youth literacy based on the right to literacy both as a basic learning tool and as a means of personal development. The report further emphasised the need to develop the capacity of government agencies, civil society and community-based learning centres to reach groups with special needs, and in less accessible areas to literacy programmes.

In response to all these needs in literacy, Unesco Bangkok has been promoting education for all; United Nations Literacy Decades (UNLD) (2003-2012) and Decades for Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) (2005-2014) in Asia and the Pacific region. Literacy is one of the primary focuses of Unesco and also the heart of the Education for ALL (EFA) goals and UNLD and DESD. It is also supporting regional and country efforts within the Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE) under the framework of EFA and UNLD. (LIFE aims to increase literacy learning opportunities in 35 countries with a literacy rate of less than 50 percent, or more than 10 million adult illiterates).

Gwang-Jo Kim is director of the Regional Bureau for Education in Asia and the Pacific.

....is the message Andres Oppenheimer of The Miami Herald  seems to be sending to leaders of Asian countries in his piece Asia Treading Near Overconfidence .

I understand his skepticism surrounding the rise of the Asian superpowers (China and India) and can empathise with where he is coming from.  I happen to agree with him that Asia's rosy economic outlook is questionable what with the current global landscape.

I also find it darkly ironic that there's no mention of the States' overconfidence, which resulted in its economy's near-demise. (And it's a democracy, to boot). He's also conveniently left out that Asians Americans are one of the most affluent ethnic groups in America. Additionally, he doesn't offer constructive advice on how Asia can thwart economic overheating on its way up, which would have made the article more balanced.  Instead I detect an almost palpable fear between the lines, fear that Asian economies will eclipse the West during the latter's meandering economic recovery.

That's my two cents worth on the piece. I'm not saying that Asian countries should crow over their Western counterparts, but wouldn't it be nice if the Americans didn't tell us what to do for once? Wouldn't it be nice to be on a level playing field with the 'big boys' for once?

P.S.:  Note Oppenheimer's views on Asian attitudes toward education, it made me do a double take!

 

According to a piece in The Star Online today, local public unis are setting stricter KPIs or key performance indicators for their staff, clearly an effort to boost their international rankings:

Playing a numbers game

BY SIMRIT KAUR

The use of KPIs in public universities promises to transform Malaysian academia.

KEY performance indicators (KPIs) at universities are not new with different terms being used to describe the measurement of an academic’s performance.

However, given the current higher education landscape, Malaysian universities are setting even more stringent KPI targets for their staff.

KPIs are now being used to not only gauge an academic’s yearly performance, but also his eligibility for promotion.

Read the rest of the article here.
If so-called positive publicity doesn't get the Gods of The Malaysian Education System cracking on that much-longed-for revamp of our education system, here's hoping the following words of wisdom from today's edition of University World News will get them moving:

"...Although Malaysia's regional hub goals are lofty, the reality may make achieving them extremely difficult. The country's higher education system has some formidable hurdles to jump before it can even consider making serious inroads into becoming a hub of any real note.

The biggest of these hurdles are the current state of the education system and Malaysia's geographical location. It is no secret the education system still is, and has been for some time, in a state of disarray.

Discrimination against certain groups of students has meant that universities were not necessarily recruiting the best and brightest who were often forced to travel overseas.

According to Professor Tan Sri Dato' Dzulkifli Abd Razak, Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Sains Malaysia, the education system is fragmented and is increasingly becoming "polarised and parochial".

Along with the internal disarray are questions as to the quality assurance of courses currently offered at the higher education institutions. The Malaysian Qualifications Authority or MQA works within the boundaries of the Malaysian Qualifications Framework - a government body overseeing the quality of higher education.

An ASEAN Quality Assurance Network, launched in Malaysia in 2008, and co-organised by the MQA, is being used as a means of promoting and sharing information on quality assurance in the region. Critics, however, question how much of the frameworks are merely on paper and how much is really put in to practice.

Another significant issue is the fact that Malaysia is right next door to Singapore and therefore will be competing with Singapore's 'Global Schoolhouse' concept. That programme was launched in 2002 and includes institutions such as the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, INSEAD, Chicago-Booth Graduate School of Business, and New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

The aim of the Global Schoolhouse is to attract 150,000 foreign students by 2015. While the initiative has not been without its own problems, including the spectacular failure of the University of New South Wales which was expected to attract a significant number of students, it does have other advantages over Malaysia.

Whether or not the Malaysian government would agree, Singapore is currently a bigger draw card for foreign students than Malaysia, particularly among Indian, Chinese and Malaysian students."
Singapore again. Ouch.

Need I say more?

An excellent summary of current attitudes towards sex and sex education in Malaysia in The Nut Graph http://thenutgraph.com/article-4757.html , found the stats from the NST survey a bit of a shocker though.

Meanwhile, The Star Online interviewed some of the country's top brains for a news feature on changing our education system, here's an excerpt:

"According to the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research executive director Datuk Dr Mohammed Ariff Abdul Kareem, human capital is a scarce commodity in the country.

“We have acute shortage of professionals because our education system is not and has not been producing skills and talents that fit into the mainstream of modern business,” he says.

Indeed, the human-capital base is nurtured from the early ages through all levels in the education system. But one of the major concerns plaguing the Malaysian education system is that it has not changed very much from one that is based on rote-learning to one that promotes critical thinking." Read the rest here.

So the education system needs to move away from rote-learning and exam myopia....hello,  has anyone out there (you know who you are) been LISTENING to what EDUCATORS have been saying for the last TWENTY YEARS? Make no mistake, I'm a big fan of economists (especially those who tell it as it is), but it's not exactly NEWS is it?

How about MAKING the changes and giving the media something to really chew on for once?

I rest my case.

An interesting, though obvious plug for foreign unis from The Times Online on "transnational education" in Malaysia:

 

Quintessentially Britain, truly Asia

Malaysia: full of Western promise

27 August 2009

By John Gill

UK institutions seeking to consolidate their position overseas are discovering Malaysia's potential. John Gill reports from Kuala Lumpur

There is a tradition at the University of Nottingham known as the "Campus 14", in which hard-drinking freshers attempt to down a pint in all 14 bars on site. In stark contrast, at the University of Nottingham in Malaysia (UNIM), the sale of alcohol - and cigarettes and condoms - is forbidden.

There are, of course, many other differences between the two: nestled as it is in the middle of a vast palm plantation, no one could confuse UNIM's campus near Kuala Lumpur with its parent in the Midlands. Yet geographical and cultural disparities aside, the degree that students earn is identical, whether they are based in the Tropics or the UK.

UNIM may be the most ambitious example of a British university's involvement in Malaysia, but the country has a diverse range of partnerships with UK institutions - links that are at the core of its aspirations to become an international "hub" for higher education.

Its strategy is founded on so-called "transnational education" - the delivery of Western degrees through partnerships with Malaysian institutions.

Read the rest of the article here.

It reads uncannily like an article I read in The Star Online a couple of days ago about Malaysia being ranked the world's 11th most preferred study destination:

"The conclusion was based on the fact that 69,154 international students from more than 150 countries have chosen Malaysia as the country they wanted to study in.

With the majority of students coming from Indonesia, China and the Middle East, the new figure was a 26.5% increase from the old count of 50,788, which was recorded on March 31 last year. The ranking was obtained from the Institute of International Education.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the rise indicated that the ministry’s target to have 80,000 international students by 2010 was achievable.

“We’re happy to have 2% of the world’s international student population,” he told reporters yesterday after announcing the National Higher Education Strategic Plan’s progress report."

According to the writer, the Ministry of Higher Education has already given the green light to the Newcastle University of Medicine for a branch campus at Iskandar Malaysia’s Educity in Nusajaya, Johor.

"It is understood that local conglomerates are negotiating with the Korean Maritime Univer-sity, Southampton University, Royal Holloway University, King’s College London, the University of Birmingham and Murdoch University to set up branch campuses in Malaysia."

Good news for students wanting to save money on living costs abroad and that international students are reportedly flocking to our shores, but perhaps the Ministry would want to carry out a study on international students in public institutions of higher versus those in private universities/colleges. I'm no psychic, but I'm willing to bet that the numbers are higher in the private colleges, namely because the degrees awarded are by foreign universities.

So where does that leave Malaysia as an international education hub? Are we fated to be  a "cheaper" destination  to those wishing to graduate with a foreign degree, functioning only as a low-cost base lining the pockets of foreign university owners? What will happen (and it will someday) when Thailand, Vietnam or Indonesia dangles more attractive incentives to foreign universities?

Where will it leave us, then? More importantly, where that does leave state-funded universities? Perhaps the fictional study I mentioned earlier should poll international students on their expectations towards public and private universities. Perhaps this will lead to a revamp of state-funded higher education, creating opportunity for public universities to regain their lost glory and finally make their mark on the world stage.

Wouldn't it after all, be a greater pride for our nation to be an international destination on the strength of its own education system, rather than relying on the 'charity' of foreign university owners?

 

I heard from a friend who teaches at UPM just the other day that the campus had to be closed for a week last month due to a minor H1N1 outbreak. I was relieved at first to hear that the campus' powers-that-be took the disease seriously, but the relief turned to horror in about 5 seconds when my friend told me that students were sent home instead of being quarantined and that lecturers were not part of the quarantine. According to my friend, this has happened at a few other universities as well: lecturers were still made to work during a H1N1 outbreak, while students were sent home or quarantined on campus.

Changing sick leave policies and allowing staff to work from home should not be just limited to corporations in the private sector, local universities and colleges need to take the cue from afflicted schools who have in the past vacated their premises of both students and teachers for the well-being of both. In local unis for instance, with well over 5000 students and a limited number of academic staff, a sloppy attitude towards disease prevention and control could well disrupt students' classes if several lecturers were to get infected. Sure, time is money, but what is a one week campus closure compared to lecturers and/or students missing several weeks of class time? Which is more damaging to the college/unis reputation?

Having said that, unis and colleges can only do so much, students and academic staff should take precautions to ward off H1n1 and not depend on the powers-that-be. Malaysians are not alone in this respect, it seems. Valerie Strauss of The Washington Post blog The  Answer Sheet tells people to Stop Sending Sick Kids To School