Malaysia Education Blueprint
In Malaysia, the education system is overly under the control of the federal government, but it is run by the ministry of education. The country has each state and territory having an education department that oversees education matters. The country’s education system is divided into preschool, primary education, secondary, post-secondary education and the tertiary education. According to Ministry of Education Malaysia (2013); there are three primary objectives that the country aims to achieve in its blueprint for the better education system in the country and eleven shifts that the government aims to implement.
Firstly, there is a need for the provision of equal access to quality education that meets international standards. In a deep review of this shift, it is crucial that students in Malaysia get the level of education that can enhance their international recognition. The world is changing at a faster rate and the dynamism in the skill sets required at the job market in both the national and the global economy is subsequently changing. Hence, adaptability is key, which will enhance the competitiveness of the Malaysian students. In this process of enhancing international quality, there would be the focus on the languages, the launch of both revised primary and secondary schools curriculum and encourage universal enrollment among others.
Secondly, the blueprint aims at ensuring that every student must learn at least Bahasa Malaysia language and English language. These two are fundamental for the linguistic relevance in the modern world. The national language must be incorporated because of its cultural identity, while the English language importance is beyond measure, and holds international relevance in the most parts of the world. In this part of the blueprint, the government aims at boosting Bahasa Malaysia proficiency for every student, and by 2016, the English language was made a compulsory pass.
The third aspect of the blueprint is the transformation of teaching into a profession of choice. It is known that the quality of teaching directly determines the quality of education the students receive, and while the Malaysian education system boasts of the best teachers, it is fundamental that the profession gets strengthened to produce even more teachers. Therefore, the government aims at making teaching a prestigious profession by hiring 30% of the top university graduates for the teaching roles.
However, while the outlined shifts in the blueprint are revolutionary, there are some aspects the government needed to put in it because they directly affect the quality of education. Infrastructural development is important. The blueprint needed to have a clear way on how the Ministry of Education plans to implement the development of learning amenities to enhance proper international standards. Other area needing an address in the blueprint is a clear and open financial plan that the government plans to utilize on every shift for the public trust.
Conclusively, the blueprint holds so much potential for the advancement of the Malaysian education and hence should be supported. Teachers should play an important role because they are the main players that can implement all the required aspects of the blueprint. The better experiences of Malaysian students depend on the effective and successful implementation of this blueprint, and the quality and the potential that it contains could be a major turning point for the Malaysian education system.
References
Ministry of Education Malaysia. (2013). Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 (Preschool to Post-Secondary Education). Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia.
