There’s greater sense of leadership in Sarawak, based on unity and political will, for Reforms after the havoc caused by the pandemic!
Commentary And Analysis . . . Sarawak, having newly found itself since the havoc caused by the pandemic, stands poised for long overdue reforms in education and other areas in Malaysia.
There’s unity and political will for Sarawak’s Way Forward in Malaysia, with or without, especially on education and public healthcare, among others.
There’s greater sense of leadership, collective and individual.
Premier Tan Sri Datuk Patinggi Haji Abang Abdul Rahman Zohari (Johari), popularly known as Abang Jo, plays sterling role in helping make difference for the better after the recent upheavals in change of administration in Kuching and Putrajaya.
Sarawak, and Sabah, each get RM600m next year as part of the Federal government’s long delayed compliance on the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA’63), the basis for the Partnership of Sabah, Sarawak, and the Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia) in Malaysia. Malaysia, under Article 160, isn’t Federation. The Federation of Malaya Agreement 1948 refers. It does not include Sabah and Sarawak.
It’s not clear whether there would be rethink on the Federal government’s oft-cited non-compliance with MA’63. The issue arises since Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohamad conceded in 2018, after GE14 on 9 May, that Sabah and Sarawak were in fact not states in Malaysia but territories.
Education
Budget ’25, in resuming the Debate, will tell us whether it will help make difference for the better. Already, Sarawak has filed notice with the Federal government on its wishlist for Budget ’25.
More money for education tops the list. The money will be spent on upgrading programmes for teachers and students, especially in primary schools, affected longterm by the pandemic, and on programmes which will help improve SPM results by beginning at the Form 3 level. The government in the territory has already designed the “Sarawak Education and Enhancement Programme (SEEP), a special tuition programme, for Forms 3 until Form 5.
Earlier, the Sarawak government said the Year 6 UPSR and Year 9 PT3 examinations should be revived on the grounds that standards had fallen in schools and that SPM results have seen better days. UPSR and PT3 were replaced, not so long ago, by school-based assessments.
Those against UPSR and PT3 argue that these examinations, abolished in 2022, had degenerated into memorisation and rote learning in the race for 7As. There can be reforms i.e. doing away with memorisation and rote learning, among others, for proof of true education.
Standards, under memorisation and rote learning, remain low even among those who get 7As. The great majority don’t get 7As. The marking system remains state secret but has been exposed by school-based Trial exams.
Reforms
Entry into the Open University Malaysia, for example, was based on university entrance examination. The Form 5 school leaving certificate was the pre-requisite.
The four-in-one entry exam, a 45-minute computerised test, covers English comprehension, Bahasa Malaysia comprehension and simple mathematics/statistics.
The Pass or Fail results are displayed on the computer screen immediately after the submit button was pressed.
Bahasa Malaysia and the English language can be explained.
English remains Asean’s only official language.
English Speaking
Again, SPM must be scrapped and English speaking skills enhanced. If students can speak English, the rest will fall in place, and that means not only the language.
English language tuition classes, run free for between four months and six months, will help colleges recruit students.
If many people remain cursed by broken English, it’s because they are bogged down and/or plagued by the sounds of the English.
English, which has no form of writing, has 42 sounds but makes do with the 26 sounds in the Roman letters.
English isn’t written as spoken. Many students in Malaysia can’t read. They have difficulties in putting together letters for forming sounds. There’s more on this later.
Reading Difficulties
The government, before looking at public examinations, should focus on the reality that many students in Malaysia can’t read and write or count.
Writing and counting can be taught.
Teaching reading remains the hardest thing in the world.
There’s formula, based on great patience, on teaching reading. Even dyslexia and autism children can be taught reading within reasonable duration.
Generally, speak English by age five, learn counting by age five, buy at a loss and sell at a profit by age 15 i.e. before school leaving age, read out aloud for 10 minutes daily, catch the news on radio for 10 mins daily, and remain Iifelong habitual reader.
Habitual Reading
True education begins with habitual reading early in life.
The proof of true education arises from writing from memory, based on all the readings, for connecting the dots.
There’s originality of thought and original thinking.
There’s also orginality of thought and original thinking if the editing down approach was used for connecting the dots in keeping “similarity of content” below 30 per cent.
The plagiarism checker can be used.
The grammar checker may not be more than 60 per cent accurate.
Blueprint
Malaysia, based on recent media reports, will unveil new education blueprint in 2026. Hopefully, the government will rethink the obsession with getting every rural student into university. Many school leavers are better off at training institute where they can get skills in demand in the jobmarket.
We have blueprint, curriculum, syllabus, text, topics modules and exams coming out of the ears. We could do less in these areas. The foreign consultants on education should be sent home since students were not doing well.
Education should be approached holistically. There have been suggestions that the depoliticisation of education may be idea whose time has come. This would mean scrapping the Education Ministry in favour of Education Commission at the Federal level, followed by the present system of Education Department at the state level and Education Office in the districts.
The main issue that arises in educational reforms: helping students do well viz. before university and during tertiary studies. If students do well, colleges won’t fail, deny salaries, and close down. Word will get around when students do well. The proof of the pudding lies in the eating.
Briefly, the lifelong Teaching Permit from MQA (Malaysian Qualifications Agency) isn’t so much about this subject, or that subject, but about being subject matter expert on public examination techniques. Generally, MQA looks at the CV (curriculum vitae) before issuing the lifelong Teaching Permit.
The students can learn the art of writing within three months. The editing down approach can be used for keeping “similarity of content” below 30 per cent. The students should include feedback by plagiarism checker and grammar checker in assignments.
MQA and MoE (Ministry of Education) will expect compliance on Bloom’s Taxonomy, Table of Specifications (ToS), marking criteria, and distribution of marks. Students would not do well if the above are not tweaked. The Internal Examination Board must support reforms in the form of tweaking.
The proof of true education arises from writing from memory, based on all the readings, for connecting the dots. True education begins with habitual reading early in life. There’s more on this later.
There’s science that IQ Tests, confined by comprehension and counting skills, were not about measuring intelligence. It’s settled theory that intelligence was the ability for learning from mistakes. Let’s not go too much there as the Debate may enter areas like incorrigibility — we didn’t say Anwar Ibrahim — delusion (read Hadi Awang), demon, and forms of mental illness and insanity. — NMH
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Longtime Borneo watcher Joe Fernandez has been writing for many years on both sides of the Southeast Asia Sea. He should not be mistaken for a namesake formerly with the Daily Express in Kota Kinabalu. JF keeps a Blog under FernzTheGreat on the nature of human relationships.
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