Education for the Future

THE National Education Philosophy for Malaysia, written in 1988 and revised in 1996, enshrines the Education Ministry’s and the Government’s vision of education as a means for the holistic development of all children: intellectually, spiritually, emotionally, and physically.

The country’s education system has seen many improvements over the years, the latest with a major redesign and transformation via the Malaysia Education Blueprint (Higher Education) 2015-2025.

This blueprint seeks to transform the higher education system to be among the best in the world, that will enable the country to compete globally.

It has been designed to produce holistic graduates who are highly employable — resilient, innovative and are present and future-ready for the unpredictable job market.

Meanwhile, the National Education Blueprint 2-13-2025 (Preschool to Post-Secondary Education) was drawn up by the Education Ministry after a comprehensive review of the education system, aimed at raising international education standards and better prepare our children for the needs of the 21st century.

The blueprint suggests 11 strategic and operational shifts, each addressing at least one of the five system outcomes of access, quality, equity, unity, and efficiency, with quality as the common underlying focus.

The National Education System at school level under the category of government education institutions consists of Pre-school Education for children from 4 to 6; Primary Education for six years in national and nationaltype schools; Secondary Education consisting of lower and upper secondary education at academic, technical and vocational and religious schools and Post-Secondary Education.

The education pathway charts the journey from pre-school up to tertiary and beyond.

The vocational education system, encompassing Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) has also seen a transformation, focusing on producing professional, competent and high demand students in the industrial sector.

TVET covers three streams including technical education, vocational education and skills training.

In line with the expected increase in skilled jobs, vocational schools have been upgraded to vocational colleges, more inter-industry collaborations have been created and the number of students are expected to increase from 164,000 in 2013 to 225,000 in 2020.

To produce skilled workforce in the near future, the government created 50,000 additional job opportunities through TVET thus completing the National Transformation 2050 (TN50).

The initiative allows young people to join the “TVET Bootcamp” for three to six months which was designed together with potential employers.

Through this approach, the government has pledged to provide the younger generation under 30 years with jobs or training for work within six months.

In order to reduce the number of unemployed graduates, the Malaysian Apprenticeship programme was introduced involving five pilot industries, as well as enhancing graduates’ skill level through structured and practical exercises and soft skills to public university students.

• Equipping 5 million school-going children with digital skills for the Fourth Industrial Revolution within five years.

• Upgrading all dilapidated schools in rural areas within five years.

• Upgrading the Integrated Special Education Programme (PPKI) in all schools

• Increasing the limit of the

Special Incentive Matching Grant for the 1Malaysia Education Savings Scheme to RM1,000.

• Implementing appropriate classroom sizes and reducing teachers’ administrative workload, as well as providing better teaching aid equipment.

• Increasing the number of subjects in the Dual Language Programme (DLP) to make it more comprehensive.

• Improving English language proficiency in schools through the Dual Language Programme (DLP), High Immersion Programme (HIP) and the introduction of English medium schools in Sabah and Sarawak as pilot projects.

• Providing incentives to capable graduates and retired language teachers to administer online teaching and learning services.

• Expanding the implementation of ‘Anak Angkat’ programmes for socio-cultural development of students, teachers and public sector employees.

• Building and increasing the capacity of boarding facilities for rural students across the country.

• Expanding high speed Internet access (100 Gbps) to all public universities.

• Allocating RM12 million for special education programmes to rural communities benefiting 615,000 participants.

• Providing a RM3 million allocation to conduct parenting workshops in 168 identified locations.

• Reducing dropout rates among Orang Asli students and increasing the number of literacy programmes in rural areas.

• Strengthening the multi-stream education system by approving the construction of new facilities, alongside special allocations for development and maintenance to all Government assisted schools including National Type Chinese Schools and Tamil Schools.

• Upgrading the facilities at nine Excellent Schools and two High-Performance Schools for the children of armed forces personnel.

• Upgrading facilities in classrooms and teachers’ rooms at 38 schools located within military camps.

• Upgrading the National Arts Culture and Heritage Academy to P. Ramlee University in order to drive the creative and cultural industries in Malaysia.

• Establishing the Al-Quran University to produce more huffaz graduates

• Producing 125,000 huffaz with professional qualifications such as science, mathematics and engineering.

• Complementing Tahfiz schools with Giat MARA skills training scheme.

• Increasing the number of suraus that are allowed to hold Friday prayers.

• Establishing a special fund to upgrade the education and safety regulations of religious schools to meet national standards.

• Improving the quality and expertise of stakeholders in Islamic administration

• Providing Arabic Language Intensive Training Courses to assist Sijil Tinggi Agama Malaysia (STAM) holders to pass the Imtihan Qabul examination

• Increasing the intake of nonBumiputera students into public universities.

• Sponsorship of up to 80 per cent of the cost of study for excellent students with at least 9A+ with offers to Oxford/Cambridge/10 of the world’s leading universities.

• Sponsorship for outstanding students with overseas university offers besides Oxford/ Cambridge/10 of the world’s leading universities, including JPA-sponsored SPM 2015 & 2016 students.

• Preparatory sponsorship of RM6,340 per year for excellent students with at least A- in all subjects in SPM 2017.