Education Imperatives and the NEM

The key words in the NEM- high income, sustainable and inclusiveness. These are the cornerstones of the NEM.

And how do we do that? The PM said:

Our answer is to create high wage jobs, give our children the best educational opportunities, and attract the high quality investment that is the driving theme of this important gathering.

Tackle the education system.

We ask this question. What makes for a high income economy? Skilled and trained people who produce high value added services and products for a global world. I add a global world because, unlike China for instance, we don't have the domestic population to absorb the high value added g&s. So, we must be mindful that our skilful workers provide for a borderless world. As a reminder, there's a universal language skills needed here and whether you like it or not, it's that bloody English language.

Then we look at the skills profile of our economy at present. How many technicians have we produced? How many engineers? How many do we plan to produce and is that number supportable by our present education agenda? How have we applied our resources thus far?

Our aim is to double the per capita income in ten years when the growth rate today is half what it was ten years ago when the ringgit was stronger, and we are trying to achieve that "high-income economy" when 80% of the workforce, or 60% of the population, has only an SPM or below. Most probably those 40% mentioned by the PM are made up by these people.

I mentioned above that a language skill is needed for us to break through. Why are we xenophobic about mastering the English language? We should look also at national survival more. We have to be pragmatic. Unless you increase the number of hours pupils stay back in school, increasing the minutes for English means you incur opportunity costs in the learning of other skills. Which means, in the end, knowledge infrastructure the PM spoke of is affected adversely.

Many understand why BM is the medium of instruction. It was returned because the rural students are too far behind to use English. But the urban students can and they should not be sacrificed so that the ministry can have an easier job or UMNO a bugle to blow the trumpet of fantasy. Accept reality that knowledge today needed for high income is delivered in English and the best knowledge infrastructure is of no use if no one can use it for want of being able to tap the world's knowledge out there.

And let those who mindlessly follow the clarion calls of ultra nationalist bodies to later explain why they are still left behind. In the long run, like Keynes said, we are all dead. In 10-15 years, most of the language nationalists are dead. But our young, educated in the prevailing education regime, will have to compete with a borderless world which views out stubbornness to prevail with our language to fulfil the cultural agenda of our education imperative, as a curiosity. But they won't be able to get jobs that can earn them income. Each year, our policy makers are insulating themselves about the job prospects of thousands of school leavers.

When the PM spoke about education, he was also throwing a challenge to our education minister to provide the answers to our high income needs. So we ask- what is our priority now as regards our educational imperatives? In my mind, there are 3 educational imperatives- political, cultural and economic. Which one is given priority at the moment? It seems to me, we are strapping ourselves stubbornly in a straightjacket, to the cultural and political imperatives.

Because of this inclination, it has also produced countervailing response on the ground from those people alienated from such imperatives. In my time, 30 years ago, enrolment into vernacular schools was diminishing. Nowadays, enrolment into vernacular schools especially Chinese medium schools is increasing rapidly to the extent, that in some vernacular schools, there aren't enough places to accommodate parents wanting to send their children there.

We must look into this reaction. Beyond being just a cultural reaction, could it be also a response indicating, that parents objected to our education imperative? In contrast and out of pragmatism, parents place a higher priority on the economic imperative of our education system. The disturbing thing is, they are willing to act and support their decision with their own resources. Parents value an education system that produces children who can find work and income higher than an education system that places political and cultural imperative. In the end, the survival agenda is most important.

Our education system must continue to be re-evaluated and improved to create the workforce of the future, with a commitment to merit-based programmes. These will reward excellence and nurture talented graduates who excel in strategic and creative thinking and entrepreneurial and leadership skills that will drive success in the decades ahead.

Now hearing the PM said these words, pushes us to think- what is the current imperative of our education system? Which one is given priority now?

This is also a challenge to our education system and to our education minister. Not too long ago there was much furore about the reversion of the teaching of maths and science to Bahasa Malaysia. That has taken place and we now asked- for which imperative? Seems to me it's aimed at cultural and political imperative. Now if our students are deficient in language skills, and the world economy is run on language other than BM, where will that place our students?

We are often enamoured with the fine words used by academics- that to create high income, we must elevate the application of science and technology on industry. We forgot that what actually makes the economy tick is sheer hard work and elbow grease. That translates presently into having the skills and the technicals to elbow grease and work. You can't make the economy tick, when by his own admission 80% of our workforce is SPM empowered.

Maybe its time to re-assess our educational imperatives. Because in the end, the critical factor in our agenda to become a high income economy is the quality of our people. If we are lazy, deficient in language and technical skills, how do we compete and how do we conceptualise to produce high value added goods and services? We need a rigorous and sound education system with the right imperative priority must be geared to the needs of the economy first. Then in 5, 10 years, we review the imperative. We leavened it with moderation.