Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has described as realistic the government's 10 to 15-year target to achieve an education system on par with, or better, than those of developed countries.

"It will not be easy, and changes that need to be made, cannot be done drastically," he noted, while opening Sekolah Kebangsaan Bukit Jelutong in Shah Alam today.

Muhyiddin, who is also education minister, said a review of the country's education system was necessary as the current national benchmark, although favourable, was not yet comparable internationally.

"No one can dismiss that Malaysia's achievements, among others, is its contribution to the education system.

"On the other hand, the people's expectations are also high and they want our education system to be on par or better than countries that are already developed, and not at a level with those of under-developed countries," he said.

In this regard, he hoped the people would support the government to achieve the objective and use available avenues for dialogue to help improve the country's education system.

RM2 million allocation to school

Meanwhile, Muhyiddin said priorities in the review included quality of teachers, their responsibilities, workload, as well as role in and outside the school.

"We are also looking at the curriculum and assessment system to determine an accurate standard to gauge how far our children have succeeded in their respective fields," he said.

He added that the review would also determine how to reinforce the ministry's organisational and delivery systems, its role and the departments under its jurisdiction, at state, district and school level.

Over a month ago, Bernama reported Muhyiddin as saying that Malaysian students enjoy a better educational system than their counterparts in countries like the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany based on the recent Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012 released by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Quoting the report, the DPM said Malaysia was ranked 14th overall in terms of the quality of the educational system, and second after Singapore among Asean countries.

At the function, Muhyiddin announced a RM2 million allocation for the construction of a hall at Sekolah Kebangsaan Bukit Jelutong which has 2,510 students and a dual session.

The school was established in 2002, with just 79 students.    

- Bernama