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The government spends about 20 percent of its budget allocation for education purposes every year.

Based on the United Nations Human Development Report in 2009, Malaysia spent 8.1 percent of GDP on education and ranked 10th in the world in terms of high spending in education.

The US spends about 5.7 percent and the UK 5.3 percent.

Malaysian spending is relatively high compared to other countries and we should be having no problem with skill and talent to transform from middle income to high income economy.

Yet many investors and FDIs are reluctant to invest locally due to poor quality of education, a non-competitive and non-proactive workforce, policy inconsistencies and bureaucratic red tape.

Despite the fact that Malaysia is one of the high spenders in education, high quality education and a skilled and talented workforce are still elusive and the Malaysian education planners don't seem to have a solution.

What went wrong?

This is a tremendous waste of resources, that all the money spent does not yield the required results. And the Malaysian government is looking elsewhere for answers when the solution is right in front of them.

The ministry and its policy makers spend billions and billions of ringgit on buildings and buying hardware like computers, laptops and other equipment. Hardware forms the major portion of the Ministry of Education budget.

Besides they spend money on seminars and training where the focus is not on learning, unlearning or re-learning but on food, expensive hotels and on sightseeing.

Billions are also spent on religious education where the emphasis is on conforming to religious do's and don'ts, form over substance and BTN-like propaganda.

New national schools are built all over the country but the quality of teaching has deteriorated and the quality of school heads is deplorable.

We once had great headmasters and exemplary teachers who became role models to students.

The decline in education system started when our education policies and systems were muddled with racism, zealotry and politics.

The affirmative action plan initiated in 1970 to help the poor regardless of race was hijacked by Umno to convert Malays into their ardent supporters and be their loyal voters.

The Umno-led government went on to replace loyal and well meaning civil servants with a one-race and one-religion civil service.

Dedicated and experienced civil servants, teachers, doctors and other professionals were not promoted and instead their junior colleagues were promoted.

In this way the government was deprived of capable and experienced staff. Politicians failed to see that a multi-racial country needs a multi-racial civil service to cater for all the needs and requirement of the country and its people.

This perverted mindset of the ruling politicians brought about a civil service that could not make long term informed decisions.

Besides, the religious leaders and politicians did not allow civil servants to mature and think independently. They were made to be grateful and obligated to the Umno politicians.

These processes and policies brought about compliant and subservient bureaucrats.

The current education system is deprived of independent, critical and analytical thinking in English, which is the international lingua franca.

The government could have continued with English medium schools but they closed them down, only to revive the importance and start teaching mathematics and science in English, that was again to be closed after 8 years.

Such flip flops caused confusion and sent billions of ringgit down the drain. Even educated Malays are looking down on our education system.

70,000 Malay students are in Chinese schools, higher Malay migration to Western countries, more Malay parents in private national and international schools and foreign countries testify to an education system that serves nobody except Umno politicians.

All measures to attract talent are pointing at the wrong direction. No talent can be attracted by our education policies.

Instead, poor non-Malay students with good grades can be awarded scholarships and university placements for courses that attract them.

Malaysian talent is everywhere in Malaysia, it's just that the Umnoputras can't see it. Malaysian talent is helping other nations grow and prosper.

Let's be Malaysian first and last so that our home-grown talent will lead our country to grow by leaps and bounds.


S Ramakrishnan is a senator.

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