In 2021, due to the pandemic-related lockdowns imposed by the government, schools, colleges, and universities halted their operations and proceeded with online teaching and learning. Students from B40 groups and families in rural areas bore the brunt and couldn’t catch up on their studies, for they lacked adequate electronic devices and infrastructure such as the internet to participate in online learning.
In April this year, a USM student was found dead after he was believed to have fallen from the eighth floor of the hostel. In May, the late Vinosiny, a UUM student reportedly died of electrocution. It was suspected that the factor that led to the accident was the dilapidated infrastructure in the hostel. Five months have passed since then, and the victim’s family has yet to receive the inquest report.
In September, UM and UUM students complained that due to the opaque hostel selection system, many students from B40 groups or who obtained high merit marks were not assigned a room in any hostels.
Recently, after the UPU university admission results were announced, the issue of educational unfairness came under the spotlight once again. Many STPM students with excellent results were denied admission to public universities and didn’t have a chance to pursue their studies.
The instances above showed that the education and higher education sectors require reforms to protect students’ safety and guarantee students’ rights before facing the new challenges of the era. Therefore, DAPSY Varsity Affairs Bureau Director Ho Chi Yang proposed a 2023 Budget Wishlist with five suggestions to improve and reform our education sector:
1. Increase Funding to Universities to Establish More Soft and Hard Infrastructures
The government should increase funding to universities, particularly research universities, to gradually build more and improve soft and hard infrastructures, including increasing research funding, improving lecturers’ quality, purchasing adequate equipment for research, and so on, to improve academic and research performance as well as the overall nation’s competitiveness.
While many public universities failed to provide enough accommodation to students, many excellent students were also denied admission to public universities. Apart from the structural flaws, insufficient placements in public universities also exacerbated the situation. With adequate infrastructure, universities can enroll more students, thus providing more opportunities for them to pursue quality higher education and lessen the brain drain problem.
2. Upgrade the Basic Infrastructures in Universities to Ensure Safety
It is not something new that hostels in public universities are dilapidated. After a series of unfortunate accidents happened, works on improving the hostels and basic infrastructure should begin immediately. However, varsity students haven’t seen any progress after the Minister of Higher Education Noraini announced a few months ago that public universities would examine the safety level of infrastructure. Hence, the government should provide more funding through Budget 2023 to repair and upgrade the dilapidated infrastructure to ensure students’ safety and prevent any untoward accidents from happening again.
3. Provide Sufficient Electronic Devices to Students of Lowe and Middle Income Groups
Although Malaysia has entered the pandemic phase, and school have reopened as a result, the trend and development of learning technologies are unstoppable. As a result, the current teaching mode in schools and communities is constantly supplemented, enhanced, and even upended dramatically by the technologies. To meet the ever-changing educational demands, the government must provide sufficient electronic devices such as laptops for students of low and middle-income groups to equip society across social statuses with the tools they need to keep up with the latest development.
4. Improve internet coverage and speed across different areas
The pandemic that ravaged our country for more than two years exposed the fact that we had insufficient basic facilities, including internet coverage and speed. As a result, it affected the studies of many students from low-income groups and those from rural areas. Therefore, the government should gradually and equitably increase the coverage and speed, particularly in rural areas, to ensure that no students are left behind due to geographical area or social status.
5. Expand the Supplement Food Plan for More Recipients
Balanced diets are crucial to one’s health and, in the long term, will affect a generation’s health. Studies found that Malaysians are shorter compared to citizens of different countries because of food intake. Hence, the government should expand the Supplement Food Plan to include all B40 students and varsity students to ensure that the economic burden doesn’t deprive students of the right to have nutritious and balanced diets.
DAPSY National Varsity Affairs Bureau urges the government to formulate strategic and long-term planning for the education sector, including investing more in education while stopping unrealistic programmes and “white elephant” projects that waste the taxpayers’ money, in order to reform our education system and equip our new generations with the capabilities to meet the new social, economic, and technological challenges.