Competition or complement?
Competition or complement to private education? Thus is the paradox that calls itself the Malaysian public education system. According to an article on the AsiaOne website originally published in The Singapore Straits Times, more middle class Malaysians are resorting to enrolling their children in international schools due to their dissatisfaction with the public education system.
"More middle-class Malaysians have, like her, become willing to draw on their savings to send their children to the more expensive international schools. Some of them also work overseas or are highly mobile. Having their children in international schools makes it easier for them when they move from one country to another.
Foreign schools charge from RM10,000 (S$4,000) to RM60,000 a year for pre-school to O-levels. Parents also have to pay a non-refundable fee to put their children on the waiting list as part of the enrolment process..." writes Elizabeth Looi of AsiaOne.
But wait, there's more:
"The Malaysian government has never done a study on why some Malaysians prefer to send their children to international or private schools. In fact, the Education Ministry feels that international schools play a complementary role in the education system. They provide an alternative to parents who are willing to pay for their children's education.
'In a way private schools have helped to lessen the burden of the government,' Education Ministry director-general Alimuddin Dom told The Straits Times in an e-mail interview."
Private schools have helped lessen the burden of the government? That's the only explanation for the thousands of children who are being deprived a quality education in local public schools because their parents can't afford private or international schools? Who's helping lessen the burden of parents (some barely middle class) who scrimp and save at their own expense, just to send their child to a private school? Do non-payers (i.e. public school students) deserve less of an education than those in private or international schools?
