Means of Instruction, Equipment and Infrastructure

The main objective of the Educational Technology Division (ETD) is to improve the quality of education in the country through media and technology programmes and services. The ETD provides an integrated education media service for elementary and secondary schools as well as the teacher training colleges. Under the ETD, State Resource Centres have been set up in four states. These function mainly as Teachers’ Centres and are meant to be places where teachers can meet and exchange views and ideas on the preparation, development and effective use of audio-visual aids, thereby enhancing the quality of education. These services have been further decentralized with the setting up of District Resource Centres and School Resource Centres. These centres will be more accessible to all teachers, especially in the rural areas. Another area of teacher support services aimed at improving the quality of education is Computer Aided Instruction (CAI). Projects are in the pipeline to supply schools with computers and to train teachers and pupils to use this facility.

The Textbook Loan Scheme (TBLS) was launched in 1975 with the aim of providing free textbooks on loan to needy children, especially those from rural and poor areas in order to equalize educational opportunities in line with the National Education policy. The scheme also aims to reduce the financial burden of poor parents who have children in school. In 1993, more than 90% of all school-going children in national as well as national-type primary schools (Chinese and Tamil) and secondary schools benefited from this scheme, for a total cost of approximately 63 million ringgit (RM). Through the implementation of the TBLS, the government ensures that sufficient textbooks are supplied to schools and in time for use by the children at the beginning of the school year. More importantly, the scheme ensures that children from rural areas are not deprived of a basic education because they cannot afford to purchase textbooks.

The Nutrition and Health Programme aims to improve the standard of health of pupils through proper nutrition education and good health practices. There are two main projects under this programme, the Supplementary Feeding Scheme (SFS) and the School Health Services. The aims of the SFS are to provide supplementary food to needy primary school children so as to improve their general health and achieve normal physical growth, to put into practice health education and nutrition, and to support the applied food and nutrition programmes as well as activities and projects through active participation. Another intervention measure undertaken to improve the quality of basic education is to provide hostel facilities to both primary and secondary school pupils from low income families, especially those from disadvantaged rural areas. These hostels provide a better living environment and more conducive surroundings for learning. While some hostels base selection on academic performance, the majority have been established with the aim of providing better educational opportunities to disadvantaged children.

The School Health Programme is implemented through Health Promoting Schools and aims to improve the general health and nutritional status of pupils through good health practices and health promotion activities. Six core areas, namely school health policies, the school physical environment, the school social environment, community relationships, personal health skills and health services are the building blocks of the Health Promoting Schools. Various supportive activities carried out at the national, state and school levels help to develop knowledge, skills and positive health experiences amongst the pupils. Two major health activities are the School Health Services (SHS) and the Supplementary Feeding Scheme (SFS). The SHS, which includes both health and dental care, is provided for by the school health teams of the Ministry of Health and covers pupils in primary and secondary schools. Besides general health appraisal and treatment follow-up, referral care is also provided for by the SHS. The SFS, which was first started in 1976, provides supplementary food to needy primary school pupils. It provides free meals (300 Kcal per child per day) to 528,000 children from more than 5,000 primary schools throughout the country. A total of RM51.5 million was budgeted for this activity in 1998.