(Sitiawan, Monday): There is something very wrong with the Education Ministry,
highlighted by the fact that it could not produce a single copy of the draft
10-Year Education Development Blueprint 2001-2010 for DAP Members of
Parliament and leaders after four days.
My office had contacted the Education Ministry four days
ago for copies of the draft 10-Year Education Development Blueprint announced by
the Education Minister, Tan Sri Musa Mohamad last October, as the draft
blueprint was never tabled in Parliament and there had been no extensive public
consultation although Musa had invited public feedbacks, but up to now, the
Education Ministry has not been able to produce a single copy of the draft
blueprint.
The government and the Education Ministry talk a lot about the IT revolution and the use of IT in education, including smart schools, but they themselves lack the mindset and culture of an information society – testified by the fact that the draft Education Development Blueprint 2001-2010 has not been posted on the Education Ministry website for the widest public dissemination.
The DAP Central Executive Committee has taken a policy decision to draft a 10-year Education Master Plan (2003-2013) for a world-class education system for Malaysia to face the challenges of globalisation, liberalization and information and communications technology and we had hoped to get copies of the draft Education Development Blueprint 2001-2010 for study in drafting the 10-Year Education Master Plan.
The education system seems to be in an even greater mess with a former academician as the Education Minister, with policy changes announced overnight without proper study or the widest public consultation, like the teaching of science and mathematics for all forms in primary and secondary schools.
DAP supports urgent educational reforms to arrest the
declining standard of English in
the country, as it is critical to national competitiveness and the ability to
meet the challenges of globalisation and information and communications
technology, but there should be no precipitate changes without the proper
infrastructure in the education system, resulting in a cure worse than the
disease with further lowering of
the standards of Mathematics and science without any significant increase in
English fluency.
It has been reported that the Cabinet will hold a special
meeting on July 16 to decide on the teaching of science and mathematics in
English.
As it is the Cabinet with many of the same Ministers who
are responsible for the current mess in the education system, Malaysians cannot
but wonder whether the Cabinet is really competent to decide on the issue or
whether it should be dealt with by more professional people with greater public
participation.
(8/7/2002)