The Education Ministry is in the midst of preparing a report on the proposed total review on the national education system in a bid to improve the quality of national education.

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said at present, a team led by Education director-general Abd Ghafar Mahmud had been entrusted to prepare the report which was expected to be tabled to the cabinet for approval by this year end.

"We will table it to the cabinet and Prime Minister Najib Razak. If he agrees that it is high time for us to make a total review, then we'll do it," he said after meeting with Indonesia Umno Club leaders, in Surabaya today.

muhyiddin yassin and chinese school Muhyiddin explained that the proposal was not for a review on the Penyata Razak (Razak Report) 1956, but was a proposal for a total review on the national education system.

"I have received many suggestions, and in the media, it is also reported that we have to make a total review on our national education system today, whether it has achieved the objectives in educating our children, whether the resolutions stated in the Penyata Razak had been fully implemented and achieved and whether the quality of our education is at par with the developed countries," he said.

Muhyiddin, who is also the education minister, said certain quarters felt that it was high time for the government to thoroughly scrutinise the national education system so that it would be able to fulfill the current demands of science and technology, knowledge, teaching and delivery system.

He said ever since he led the Education Ministry, he had had the opportunity to witness many developments in the country's education system.  

Other countries' models used as reference

Considerable efforts had been made to improve the national education system actually, whether in terms of teaching and learning methods, infrastructure, content and quality, teacher's qualification and changes in the co-curriculum, but most of the efforts were done separately and not total, he said.

He said the total review, which would be done after getting the cabinet's approval, would use other countries' models as reference, but would be improvised to match Malaysia's current situation.  

Through the total review, he said the ministry was also planning to look into the Penyata Razak's progress from the date it was tabled in 1956 to ascertain how far the suggestions stated in the report had been implemented accordingly.

Muhyiddin said changes occurred in line with time, not only in the field of education, but also in science and technology.

Hence, he said such a change and other developments would need the ministry to thoroughly review the national education system so that the children educated under the education system would possess a 'world view' attitude and could gain more in-depth knowledge.

"This is not only to fulfill their needs, but for the future development of the nation.

 

"Many issues were acknowledged in the Penyata Razak, most of them have been implemented, but today's development requires us to review the direction of our national education for the next 50 or 30 years," he said.

In the total review, he said the ministry would also take into consideration the future of both Malay and English languages in Malaysia.

- Bernama