RE-BUILDING MALAYSIAN EDUCATION

Be flexible with 1Murid 1Sukan By Stephen Ng As a parent-stakeholder, of course, I want the best for my children’s education, not only academically but also in all aspects of their personal development. In fact, I believe I am speaking on behalf of thousands of parents, especially in urban cities, who send their children to all sorts of extra-curricular activities outside the school. For example, kids go for music classes, swimming lessons, ballet, singing, public speaking, speech and drama, debates, tennis, golfing, archery, or even their preferred martial arts, which are not offered in schools. This allows them to pursue and develop their area of interest, while at the same time help to develop their character, self-confidence and leadership skills. For my family, the weekends are the busiest time of the week, as my wife and I have to ferry them around. I am sure many other parents do the same for their children. Not every activity offered by the schools i...

The letter written by " Selangor Teacher " praising Education Minister, Dr Maszlee Malik is indeed ticklish to say the least. As a parent, I have been following closely on the education issues in our government schools. It is unfortunate that I have to give Maszlee an "F" for his performance in the past one year.  Let me elaborate so that he and his people will be more focused on the real issues instead of operating in a bubble.  FIRSTLY,  one can craft out the most beautiful policies but when it comes to implementation, if it is not done correctly, it will flop.  I have  written  at great length my complaints about the 1Murid, 1Sukan policy after several letters to Maszlee were unattended to.  A simple request to ask on behalf of parents whose children are attending a church-based uniformed group has dragged on for a year now. What is so difficult to give these children the exemption so that they do not need to attend another uni...

Streaming: Think carefully before you speak, Maszlee By Stephen Ng The latest talk in town about our education minister, Maszlee Malik focuses on the decision to abolish the Science and Arts streams. I have no problem with that but, with what we have heard from Maszlee himself about the black/white shoes and hotels offering their swimming pools as their corporate social responsibility, I am just worried that the combining of curricula, like the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English, if not done properly, will cause our education system to fall apart. Great ideas will not necessarily bring about the positive results if we fail at the implementation stage. Apparently, Maszlee and his deputy, Teo Nie Ching is not in touch with the real issues affecting our government schools. The cooperation of the teachers to help achieve the desirable results has yet to be seen, but in the past, we have seen that the ministry can issue a certain directive or guideline, but o...

By Stephen Ng It is not very helpful when the Deputy Minister of Education, Teo Nie Ching allowed the Parent-Teacher Association (PIBG) to decide on whether computer classes can be conducted during school hours. This clearly shows that Teo is either unaware of the numerous issues with PIBG in schools, or she is aware, but willing to play along with the PIBG. If the latter is true, it is legacy and impression that she will leave behind which is inconsistent with Malaysia Baru. It is no wonder that even writer, Mariam Mokhtar says, after the 14th General Election, the " DAP plays the "Three Monkey" -- deaf, blind and mute. " Only a few people such as the DAP stalwart, Lim Kit Siang speak up against injustice, race based politics and attacks on religion. Repeatedly, I have urged the Ministry of Education to tighten the control over the PIBG, as the association has often been used as a rubber stamp for school principals. School principals love to have c...

Get your facts right before talking about paid IT Literacy classes!  By Stephen Ng  Photo credit: Free Malaysia Today https://www.facebook.com/151049370447/posts/10155724607560448/ I would like to ask Teo Nie Ching what is the meaning  free education that the government is said to provide to primary school children. At a press conference recently, Jiazhong adviser Edward Neoh said that the Deputy Minister of Education had given the greenlight to schools to bring back the paid computer classes. According to Teo, the schools are allowed to conduct these classes during school hours provided the school Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) has unanimously agreed to conduct it. It appears to me that Teo had said that the state education department (JPN) is empowered to approve on the paid classes during school hours. Parents would then have to pay for these classes that are conducted by external vendors. I want Teo to explain how schools and PIBG...

By Stephen Ng In October last year, I wrote about the appeal to the Minister of Education, Dr Maszlee Malik to grant exemption for kids who are already participating in a church-based uniformed group. I see it fit to bring this up again, as a follow-up letter to Maszlee which  has gone unheeded. I wish to reiterate that, as parents, we agree and support the ministry’s 1Sukan, 1Murid policy.  However, how our children participate in one sports, one uniformed group and one club, is in the hands of parents, not the policymakers.  For example, I send my  children to a uniform group in my church every Sunday because I find it providing a holistic character and leadership development programme for my children. They, too, love the activities of their outpost. When my family were hospitalised because of dengue, the commanders visited my children. This really cheered them up.  For this reason, my children know that they would not trade i...

By Stephen Ng I cannot help it but pick up a comment from a good friend of mine, Patrick Teoh, when I saw it being viralled around. Like me, Teoh has been very quiet for some time, but for him to make an occasional remark about Malaysian Education Minister, Maszlee Malik, there is more to this than meets the eye. Teoh's words were packed with sarcasm:  "Oh sorry I must have missed it. But which 2nd language did we master already?"  Knowing Teoh as a man who would not hold back his punches, I can fully understand his frustrations. I, too, was equally puzzled with Maszlee's latest statement about wanting Malaysians to master a third language. My personal opinion is that Maszlee was merely trying to parrot former Minister of Trade and Industries, Rafidah Aziz who merely said during her school days, they could even learn French but today, French is no longer in our vocabulary. Rafidah was in fact hitting out at...