Foundation in education starts from the bottom and not from the top. It starts from primary school. It starts from the three Rs which are Reading, 'Riting and 'Rithmetic. Unless our pupils are well-grounded in these three Rs to start with, it is pointless to go for other subjects at higher levels.

Pupils must be drilled and rilled and drilled in these three core subjects. After they have attained a high standard of proficiency in these subjects, then they could then graduate to the other school subjects but they first must obtain a certain standard of passes ( say 50% and above) in the core subjects like English Language, Bahasa Malaysia, Arithmetic, Reading, Oral Tests ( English and Bahasa Malaysia) and Science.

If a pupil does not obtain passes in these subjects, they should not be promoted to the next level. In fact, they should be retained at the same standard for another year so that he or she becomes proficient in the core subjects. Unfortunately and regrettably, our present education system encourages laziness and indifference in our pupils. They are made to be lazy and indifferent and they just could not care less whether they obtain zeroes in all their subjects.

After all, students are automatically promoted; it matters not whether they are good or hopeless in their subjects. The education ministry has the erroneous idea that all students are given 11 years of solid education. In reality, the students have only warmed their seats for 11 years.

Then, they go up to Form 6 for two years or take up matriculation for one year. Then they go into the universities and most of them, taking up only soft courses, graduate after three years (or four years).

Now, 80,000 graduates are unemployed and unemployable. Why? Because they did not have a foundation from Standard One itself. Their language skills are lacking. Their English is indecipherable. Nobody in the private sector wants them. Why should private comapnies employ them when they cannot speak or write proper English?

So, from the hard facts we know that two facets of the education system are wrong. One, the lack of a strong foundation in the Three Rs to start with and two, automatic promotion. The latter should be abolished and students must be taught that there is no such thing as 'automatic' in life. They must produce results to get promoted; they must show results to be given increments in salaries or bonuses. There is no such thing as 'automatic' increases in pay and 'automatic bonuses'.

It is my fervent belief that we will abolish automatic promotion in schools and also 'automatic' increments in pay and 'automatic bonuses' for workers. Match promotion with high productivity. No results, no promotion.