Lessons learnt, now to move forward

Prof Dr Yeah Kim Leng is a professor of Economics at Sunway University. Dr Yeah says to be sustainable, wages need to be linked to increases in efficiency, productivity and competitiveness.

A DECADE after the comprehensive Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 was implemented, the nation’s education standards are back to where they were.

A number of intervention programmes with similar foci have been implemented under the blueprint but current approaches clearly need careful evaluation. This includes incorporating global best practices and importing and adapting proven models from elsewhere.

The decline in the country’s mathematics, reading and science international benchmarks and their wide gaps with the developed Asian countries argue for a rethink and fine-tuning of the strategies, programmes and initiatives.

Technology-based (AI-related) learning systems are the way forward for Malaysia’s education system. Developing self-learning skills and knowledge will set the foundation for lifelong learning in the workplace.

Innovation and creativity skills are a critical focus of education in the digital age. These skills require active learning styles that foster curiosity, creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving and systems analysis.

Most education systems are in crisis due to their inability to adapt to present and changing needs, says the World Economic Forum. The relevance of these systems in an era of innovation, disruption and perpetual change is being questioned.

Present day education systems are rooted in the Industrial Revolution model that emphasised intelligence quotient (IQ). The skills based on memorisation and direct instruction are increasingly being displaced by augmented and artificial intelligence (AI).

The new approach to education calls for developing a good blend of IQ (intelligence), EQ (emotional intelligence) and RQ (resilience) to unleash a student’s potential.

Rather than preparing students for outmoded work based on a fixed set of skills and knowledge, a future-ready education system is one that prepares the students for job readiness, increases their ability to compete against smart machines for jobs and enhances their potential to create long-term economic value.

Malaysia’s challenge is more daunting. The latest OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores have placed Malaysia’s education system and its decade-long education transformation journey in the spotlight.

The country’s 2022 results in mathematics, reading and science, besides being in the third quartile of 80 participating countries, were lower than its scores in 2018.

Despite being at the cusp of achieving high-income status as defined by the World Bank, could the Malaysian economy end up in a low equilibrium trap due to an under-performing education system?

As a corollary, education under-performance has contributed to human capital deficits as well as wage stagnation in the country.

It is evident from the PISA results that Malaysia’s education system is under-performing, since only 1% of Malaysian students achieved Level 5 or 6 on the mathematics test, compared to 41% for Singapore, 32% for Chinese Taipei, 23% for Japan and 23% for South Korea.

Only 42% of Malaysian students achieved Level 2 or higher in reading compared to 89% in Singapore, while almost no students reached Level 5.

With the blueprint ending next year, the PISA is a timely reminder that the country’s education gap with the developed nations could have widened instead of narrowing.

A stock-take is needed on why the blueprint has not produced the desired results. Following that, we need to reach a national consensus on how to reshape the country’s education policy and strategies, which are closely intertwined with its human capital needs.

The Covid-19 pandemic from 2020-2022 could have affected Malaysian students’ learning more severely than the better performing countries in the PISA.

It is apparent that the blueprint improved education outcomes to some extent, but only temporarily, as PISA scores dropped in 2022 after an improvement between 2012 and 2018. The three waves (phases) and 11 shifts under the blueprint are wide-ranging.

The Education Performance and Delivery Unit (PADU) within the Education Ministry monitors and drives the blueprint implementation using a variety of tools like multi-functional dashboards, KPI-setting, mid-year and annual reviews, including the publication of an annual report.

It is hard to reconcile the immense resources and efforts expended by the ministry officials, schools and teachers to transform the education system with the decline in education standards.

This article first appeared in Star Biz7 weekly edition.