Current Educational Priorities and Concerns

Since Malaysia’s independence in 1957, education has always figured prominently as an integral part of the government’s developmental policy. The education sector has undergone tremendous changes and developments over the years. The past thirty years were spent on nation-building and on enhancing national unity through the development of a unified education system, a national curriculum, and the use of Bahasa Melayu, the national language, as the medium of instruction and communication. There has been a considerable increase in enrolment, and universal education at the primary and lower secondary levels has been achieved.

Curriculum reforms in 1983, 1995, and 1999 and the increasing use of educational technology have enhanced the quality of education. The most recent curricular revision has combined the use of the content-based and outcomes-based approaches to curriculum design. More specifically it has focused on the introduction of new subjects, outcomes-based learning, student-centred pedagogical changes, and the introduction of new elements into the existing set of subjects. It also promotes the use of ICTs at the primary and secondary levels. The underlying principle in the Malaysian National Curriculum is that of a general education using an integrated approach in curriculum planning for knowledge, skills and positive attitudes.

To further ensure the quality and the delivery of education, more teachers have been recruited and new schools and better facilities have been built; efforts have also been initiated to improve the quality of teacher training and to increase the efficiency of the management of the education system. Since the 1990s, the Ministry of Education has focused on human resource development to meet the challenges of the information millennium and the move towards capital-intensive and technologically sophisticated industries. The private sector is expected to play a more dynamic role in the provision of education and training facilities to meet the growing demand for qualified and skilled manpower. The education and training systems will be expanded and strengthened to achieve the objective of ensuring that quality education and training are accessible to all Malaysians, and to equip them with the knowledge and skills necessary to make Malaysia a developed nation by the year 2020.

Malaysia’s national ideology Rukunegara (1969) has provided the direction for all political, economic, social and cultural policies including those concerning education. The aspirations and principles of Rukunegara are national unity, democracy, justice, equity, liberty, diversity and progress. The guiding principles to achieve these ends are belief in God, loyalty to king and country, upholding the constitution, rule of law, and morality. The major instruments towards achieving national unity are the National Economic Policy and the New Development Policy (NDP) of 1991. The NDP seeks “to attain a balanced development in order to create a more united and just society. The NDP, which emphasizes growth with equity, will enable Malaysians to participate in the mainstream of economic activities, thereby ensuring political stability and national unity.” All aspects of national development strategies contribute towards the achievement of this goal, of which the educational programme is the leading factor.

The Sixth Malaysia Plan (1990-95) focused on expanding educational opportunities and increasing access to all levels of education, and on strengthening and improving the quality of education. The Seventh Malaysia Plan (1996-2000) attempted to improve upon the previous initiatives to meet the manpower needs of the nation, particularly in the fields of science and technology. Under the Seventh Malaysia plan, the objectives of education and training were to produce an adequate number of skilled and quality workers as well as to produce citizens who are disciplined, possess high moral values and good work ethics. The Eighth Malaysia Plan (2001-2005) continues with the objectives of the previous plans and also gives high priority to reorienting the education and training system so that workers can acquire the knowledge, skills and expertise necessary to support a knowledge-based economy. In line with these goals, a number of measures have been identified, such as:

Giving priority to the teaching of science, mathematics and languages in primary and secondary schooling; encouraging the development of creative and critical thinking skills and independent learning in pupils.

Emphasising positive values such as a sense of belonging, the drive for excellence, loyalty and love for the country as well as discipline, integrity, dedication and other positive attributes.

Developing the school curriculum and co-curricular activities to encourage excellence in the arts.

Providing equal opportunity to every child (increasing accessibility to quality education) through: an increase in the provision of qualified and experienced teachers; a greater utilization of modern technologies and computers; the construction of more schools, well equipped with ICT facilities and science laboratories; the construction of the necessary facilities in rural areas to increase the rural population's access to quality education; and the provision of special incentive packages to retain teachers and school staff in remote areas. Furthermore, more schools, and special classes in mainstream schools are being established to enable children with special needs to have better access to education.

Setting up a mechanism that links schools with industries to ensure that the curriculum remains relevant to the industry; restructuring the National Occupational Skills Standards towards work processes that are in line with the changing needs of employers; encouraging training institutions to collaborate with the industry to enhance the effectiveness of their training programmes.

Providing appropriate incentives to increase enrolment in the science stream.

Expanding private and public tertiary education facilities to produce more professional manpower.

Strengthening research and development within existing institutions of higher learning in order to develop the future workforce and to create new knowledge and intellectual capital; undertaking research activities that have commercial viability, with an emphasis on science and technology; collaborating with research and development institutions locally and abroad.

Promoting and implementing programmes for lifelong learning through the provision of training courses and education programmes through the Internet or other ICT-related media, and through the establishment of community colleges, open universities and distance education.

Recent reforms in education are driven by the need for Malaysia to have an education system on par with the best in the world. This is pointed out as the mission statement of the Ministry: “to develop a world class quality education system which will realize the full potential of the individual and fulfil the aspiration of the Malaysian nation.”

To this end, reforms which are being carried out cover the following broad areas: educational legislation reforms; towards a technological society; enriching and diversifying the curriculum; higher education reforms; teacher education; and organizational changes.