BY JOE FERNANDEZ
WITH newfound stability post-pandemic, Sarawak is ready for long-awaited reforms in education and various sectors across Malaysia.
There’s unity and political will for Sarawak’s way forward in Malaysia, with or without, especially on education and public healthcare, among others.
There’s a greater sense of leadership, collective and individual.
Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg, popularly known as Abang Jo, plays a sterling role in helping make a difference for the better after the change of administration in Putrajaya.
Sarawak, and Sabah, each get RM600m next year, under National Budget ‘25 financial procedures on such allocations, perhaps as part of the federal government’s long-delayed compliance on the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), the basis for the partnership of Sabah, Sarawak, and the Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia) in Malaysia. Malaysia, under Article 160, isn’t a federation.
The Federation of Malaya Agreement 1948 refers. It does not include Sabah and Sarawak.
It’s unclear whether there would be a rethink on the federal government’s oft-cited non-compliance with MA63.
The issue arises since Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad conceded in 2018, after GE14 on May 9, that Sabah and Sarawak were not states in Malaysia but territories.
Education
Budget ‘25, in resuming the Debate, will tell us whether it will help make a difference for the better.
Sarawak has filed notice with the federal government on its wish list for Budget ‘25.
It’s not clear how much of the wish list was addressed under the various ministries.
More money for education tops the list. The funds will be spent on upgrading programmes for teachers and students,
especially in primary schools, affected long term by the pandemic, and on programmes which will help improve SPM results by beginning at the Form 3 level.
The government in the territory has already designed the Sarawak Education and Enhancement Programme (SEEP), a special tuition programme, for Forms 3 until 5.
Earlier, the Sarawak government said the Year 6 UPSR and Year 9 PT3 examinations should be revived because standards had fallen in schools and that SPM results have seen better days. UPSR and PT3 were replaced, not so long ago, by school-based assessments.
Those against UPSR and PT3 argue that these examinations abolished in 2022, had degenerated into memorisation and rote learning in the race for 7As.
There can be reforms i.e. doing away with memorisation and rote learning, among others, for proof of true education.
Standards, under memorisation and rote learning, remain low even among those who get 7As.
The great majority don’t get 7As. The marking system remains a state secret but has been exposed by school-based Trial exams.
Reforms
SPM can be replaced under reforms by a university entrance examination — its IQ Test — after the school leaving certificate.
The SPM may be somewhat outdated.
It does not prepare school leavers for the content of undergraduate programmes.
Entry into the Open University Malaysia, for example, was based on the university entrance examination.
The Form 5 school leaving certificate was the pre-requisite.
The four-in-one entry exam, a 45-minute computerised test, covers English comprehension, Bahasa Malaysia comprehension and simple mathematics/statistics.
The Pass or Fail results are displayed on the computer screen immediately after the submit button is pressed.
Bahasa Malaysia and the English language can be explained.
The 20K word Bahasa Melayu (Johor Rhio Lingga version) was rendered redundant as Bahasa Kebangsaan (national language) by 1969 when the 40K Bahasa Malaysia emerged.
English remains Asean’s only official language.
English speaking
Once more, it is imperative to eliminate SPM and elevate proficiency in English.
When students can communicate effectively in English, everything else will align, impacting more than just language skills.
English language tuition classes that are free for four to six months will help colleges recruit students.
If many people remain cursed by broken English, it’s because they are bogged down and, or plagued by the sounds of the English.
English, which has no form of writing, has 42 sounds but makes do with the 26 sounds in Roman letters.
English is not transcribed as it is spoken. Numerous students in Malaysia struggle with reading; encountering challenges in combining letters to produce sounds. Further details on this topic will be provided later.
Reading difficulties
The government, before looking at public examinations, should focus on the reality that many students in Malaysia can’t read write or count.
Writing and counting can be taught.
Teaching reading remains the hardest thing in the world.
There’s a formula, based on great patience, on teaching reading.
Even dyslexic and autistic children can be taught reading within a reasonable duration.
Generally, speak English by age five, learn counting by age five, buy at a loss and sell at a profit by age 15 i.e. before school leaving age, read out aloud for 10 minutes daily, catch the news on the radio for 10 mins daily, and remain lifelong habitual reader.
Habitual reading
True education begins with habitual reading early in life.
The proof of true education arises from writing from memory, based on all the readings, for connecting the dots.
There’s originality of thought and original thinking.
There’s also originality of thought and original thinking if the editing down approach was used for connecting the dots in keeping “similarity of content” below 30 per cent.
The plagiarism checker can be used.
The grammar checker may not be more than 60 per cent accurate.
Blueprint
Malaysia, based on recent media reports, will unveil a new education blueprint in 2026. Hopefully, the government will rethink the obsession with getting every rural student into university.
Many school leavers are better off at training institutes where they can get skills in demand in the job market.
We have a blueprint, curriculum, syllabus, text, topics modules and exams coming out of the ears.
We could do less in these areas.
The foreign consultants on education should be sent home since students were not doing well.
Education should be approached holistically.
There have been suggestions that the depoliticisation of education may be an idea whose time has come.
This would mean scrapping the Education Ministry in favour of the Education Commission at the federal level, followed by the present system of the Education Department at the state level and the Education Office in the districts.
The primary challenge in educational reforms lies in supporting students to excel both before entering university and throughout their higher education.
When students succeed, colleges thrive, avoid financial struggles, and remain operational. Success stories of students will naturally spread, demonstrating the effectiveness of these reforms. Ultimately, the true measure of success is seen in the outcomes.
Briefly, the lifelong Teaching Permit from MQA (Malaysian Qualifications Agency) isn’t so much about this subject, or that subject, but about being a subject matter expert on public examination techniques.
Generally, MQA looks at the
CV (curriculum vitae) before issuing the lifelong Teaching Permit.
Students can master the craft of writing in just three months by employing the editing-down method to maintain content similarity under 30%.
It is recommended that students incorporate feedback from plagiarism and grammar checkers in their assignments.
MQA and MoE (Ministry of Education) will expect compliance with Bloom’s Taxonomy, Table of Specifications (ToS), marking criteria, and distribution of marks.
Students would not do well if the above are not tweaked.
The Internal Examination Board must support reforms in the form of tweaking.
The proof of true education arises from writing from memory, based on all the readings, for connecting the dots.
True education begins with habitual reading early in life.
There’s more on this later.
There’s a science that IQ tests, confined by comprehension and counting skills, were not about measuring intelligence. It’s a settled theory that intelligence is the ability to learn from mistakes.
• Joe Fernandez, a long-time Borneo watcher, has been writing for many years on both sides of the Southeast Asia Sea. He keeps a blog under FernzTheGreat on the nature of human relationships.
The views expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of Sarawak Tribune.
