MP: Education flip-flops making rubbish of blueprint
An opposition MP has questioned the fate of the education blueprint 2013 - 2025 that allegedly missed its milestones to due to policy reversals.
“Not only have these flip-flop decisions effectively wasted years of time, resources and effort spent training and preparing teachers and students for the new changes, it also calls into question the relevance of the 12-year blueprint.
“What use is the blueprint now, when key milestones are not adhered to?” asked Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari (
left
) in a statement.
The DAP MP cited several policy about-turns such as scrapping of plans for 40 percent school-based assessments for UPSR examinations and practical tests for science subjects.
“Another fundamental problem identified by the blueprint was poor English proficiency, where only ‘28 per cent of students achieved a minimum credit in the 2011 SPM English paper against Cambridge 1119 standards.’
“Hence, amongst the many measures highlighted by the blueprint to address this deficiency is to make English a compulsory pass subject at the SPM level by 2016.
“This too, has now been postponed,” said Zairil.
The MP’s concerns add to complaints over the weekend that Budget 2016’s cuts in higher education budgets will severely affect the quality and affordability of university education in the country.
Monitoring unit sleeping?
Zairil further asked what the Education Implementation and Performance Unit (Padu) has been doing.
The unit is a special entity to monitor and ensure the success of the measures outlined by the blueprint.
"Clearly, they have failed in their role as the executor of the education transformation plan," he said.
"The implications of these policy U-turns are serious, as it indicates failure on the part of the Ministry of Education to implement the blueprint’s reforms, as well as to adequately prepare students and teachers for the new evaluation formats.
"If even the short-term objectives cannot be met, then there is real cause to believe that the blueprint is nothing more than an unrealistic and insincere attempt at reforming the education system," said the MP.
Then education minister Muhyiddin Yassin launched the blueprint in September 2013 calling it the “most comprehensive and biggest manifestation of government transformation in getting the best returns in human capital to drive all national development aspirations”.
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