This article will be talking about the model education system.

Generally when we talk about education, we often associate it with a formal form of learning for instance in schools or universities. However, when we talk of learning, the famous “life-long learning” quote comes into mind and it is synonymous with our everyday life, the things we learn day in and day out and so the word learning itself, represents a totally different idea of education.

Essentially, I want our education system to be revamped and improved to fit the changing times and equip us better with the best possible, learnings. A lot has been said about our education system, a lot of controversies have taken place and still there is something lacking in it and we must address it - well, this is my idea.

Taking it step by step, let’s start with early childhood development programmes.

Babies are born into this world with the brain capability of a genius - hence the existence of Newton, Einstein, Hawkings and the likes. However as we grow older, we became less of a genius because of our environment - the nurturing process that occurs differently in everyone. To preserve and further enhance this ingenuity, early childhood development must be adopted into kindergarten programs.

Our kindergartens - tadika - should provide a learning experience that compliments playing experience because after all, kids will be kids and I for one believes that we learn much more when we are having fun - that’s the kid in me talking.

Ideally, I want our kindergartens to teach kids about values and ideas and how questions make up for more effective learning curve. It is in kindergartens that we must introduce and instill curiosity and basic values on humanity so that our children will grow up having established a firm idea on how we should treat other people and to always be curious about society, science and space.

Ultimately, it is during this period that we can combat social ills like bullying and any form of discrimination. We need to break away from our reality now that only provides negative connotations to kindergartens, dera-dera tak cukup makan. This needs to change by providing quality teachers. Our children are geniuses, I want them to be treated as geniuses, not like a herd of cows.

Our public schools

Fundamentally, I believe in a fine-tuned balance between equity and equality and that primary and secondary education is compulsory. Schools are crucial and they play a massive role in influencing the upbringing of our children in my opinion and to provide the necessary tools for schools and to empower them to become good school must be our top priority. Therefore, I believe we must focus on bridging the rural-urban gap so that our youth stands equal chance in making it into tertiary education.

“Education should be a right, not a privilege.” - Bernie Sanders.

How do we proceed in materialising the idea is in the bit-by-bit discontinuation of boarding schools - Sekolah Berasrama Penuh(SBP), Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (MRSM) and the like. The logic here is once this boarding schools are neutralised to become normal public schools, we could then have a relocation of resources - good teachers from SBPs/MRSMs can be placed in a rural school which need the service of good teachers most.

Most of the SBPs and MRSMs are already out there in the kampongs so it would be a swift transfer. Not only good teachers who will be relocated, good students too will be relocated; I also believe that as students, we do not just learn from our teachers, we also learn from our peers and arguably, more effectively with the latter. The crux of the argument here is, we need to cease the polarization between academically intelligent and mediocre students.

Schools with dormitories facilities would then place children that has difficulties commuting to their schools, the ones we hear stories about how they walk two hours to school, riding sampan to schools or how that one case students need to cross jambata nuzur to school. They need the facilities the most!

Pursuing greater heights

In advancing our school to greater height, we need an integrated system that combines the necessary elements that our children need. Firstly, the learning of science and mathematics must be in English - however we want to argue on the issue, there are more benefit in learning the subjects related in English.

Secondly, at least one school in a district must offer all the streams that are offered by our education system such as arts, economics, vocational and science. This will allow our students to freely choose which stream of learning they are most inclined to enter and not just out of their paper examination results.

We need to understand different students have different inclination and interest and that interest does not derive from their results - distinguishing between excellence and interest, which is where I believe we lack most.

Next, I believe in national school should complement and lend a helping hand in building a national identity which is why all national schools should provide classes for all major languages like Malay, Mandarin and Tamil and with respect to the local community, any language that the local community believe should be taught at school.

To address a more sensitive issue, I too believe Pendidikan Islam should not be made compulsory, instead the class where we usually separate the Muslims and non-Muslims into Pendidikan Islam and Pendidikan Moral classes should introduce philosophy and that philosophy should be taught to all student irrespective of their religions. This will end the segregation that has a multitude of chain reaction that surely by now, all of us have seen.

Now, with better teachers and a more dynamic student compositions, accompanied with a diverse curriculum that accommodates everyone, I believe that this formula can make our national school great.

Tertiary education

Let’s address the elephant in the room, unemployment and more significantly, underemployment. Our graduates are going into a challenging market which guarantees no one with a job, therefore the institutions that provides tertiary education must be competitive and should allow industrial players to work together with the administration objectively to provide a quality, marketable working force.

I claim no expert in the area so I hope the discussion surrounding this topics could be covered by more prominent and experienced scholars and industry players on how institutions should market and develop their graduates to accommodate the challenging economic landscape.

In my opinion, it is through employment with decent wages that we could eliminate a myriad of issues our graduates are facing such as education debt, affordable housing for first time buyer and generally allowing our graduates to have a decent quality of life.

“Education is the most powerful weapon which we can use to change the world.” - Nelson Mandela.

To conclude, I need to reiterate, emphasise that our education system should fulfill the needs of a diverse and vibrant Malaysian culture that can potentially be a force for progress not just in our region, but the world.

I invite everyone to join the discussion. We owe a lot to the next generation, let’s get started.