By Natasha Jee & Aina Azizah Yeo
In this interview, Education, Science and Technological Research Minister Datuk Seri Michael Manyin Jawong shared with New Sarawak Tribune the challenges and achievements of his ministry and his aspiration to provide quality education for the students in Sarawak.
For one, Manyin feels a decentralised education system promises to be more efficient as it reflects local priorities and encourages participation and improves quality.
He is looking at the education models in Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Iceland where officials have the authority to formulate their own individual policies.
New Sarawak Tribune: Why was the ministry established by the Sarawak government?
Manyin: I believe when Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg took office, he must have heard and also been informed that we cannot leave education entirely to the federal government, so there is a need for us to fully participate in education.
So, the chief minister feels that there is a need for the state to really be involved in education, especially with the establishment of Centre of Technical Excellence Sarawak (Centex), Sarawak Skills Development Centre (PPKS), Swinburne University, Curtin University and University College of Technology Sarawak (UCTS).
Secondly, all this while we put a lot of trust on the federal government and I believe that the state must have heard that a lot of things have not really been done, especially with regard to the physical conditions of the school. We put a lot of trust on them, but a lot has been neglected. We don’t want to blame anybody, whether it is the present government or the previous BN government, because this has actually been going on for a long time. The country has been independent for almost 60 years.
But unfortunately, when I took over this ministry, we discovered, as mentioned by the education director general recently, our results and Sabah’s are always second from the bottom in Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) and Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examinations. That was the first thing I discovered when I took over this ministry. I asked what the factors were that contributed to these poor results and I was told it was the physical conditions of schools.
Today, there are 1,458 schools in Sarawak, of which 1,265 are primary and 193 secondary schools. Of these, 1,020 are categorised as dilapidated schools. So, you just imagine when you have that situation, I believe both teachers and students have been demoralised by the condition. So, some of the teachers might not have the mood to even teach, but I admire them because I have been to some of the schools, especially those by the river. Their spirit was not dampened by the poor conditions. I salute the teachers teaching in the rural areas.
What has the ministry achieved since its establishment?
We had to identify the reasons for the poor results. One of them was that there were too many schools with low enrolment. There are eight schools in the whole of Sarawak with a student population of 10 and below; 43 schools with 11 to 20 students; 54 schools with 21 to 30 students; 196 schools with 31 to 50 students, and 296 schools with 51 to 100. In total there are 651 low enrolment schools.
This means that the allocation is based on population, so many of them do not have enough allocation.
Secondly, in develop countries like Finland, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, small schools are considered as good. But in the case of ours, the facilities are not there, hence the poor results.
So, what we are doing since then is to address the dilapidated schools and also get ‘options teachers’ to teach subjects. I have been informed that 550 teachers are teaching Science and Maths alone and they are not options teachers. Because of that, the students’ results cannot improve.
Nevertheless, I have already directed the Education Department whether these teachers can be transferred within the district. It is not that the Education Department does not have teachers, but because of the distribution.
And when we addressed the issues of the dilapidated schools, the Ministry of Education (MoE) back then responded. First, the Barisan Nasional (BN) government promised to give us RM1 billion in the 2018 Budget, but unfortunately it was not honoured by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government.
Up to today, since 2016 the federal government has allocated RM69.71 million to upgrade or repair 20 schools. In 2017, RM92.68 million for 30 schools, and in 2018, RM416.576 million for 116 schools.
All these were awarded in February 2018. Fifty of the schools were under JKR Sarawak and 66 under Ministry of Education (MoE). So, all the 50 schools have been completed, but of the 66 schools, 13 of them up till today are considered sick projects. And in 2019, the present government allocated RM100 million to 32 schools. And these schools are under different stages of construction, and should be completed by early next year.
And on the allocation of the RM1 billion, the first tranche of RM350 million has been disbursed to the state government sometime in September to repair or upgrade 37 schools. So, when all these have been completed, it means that we have repaired more or less 33.33 per cent of the dilapidated schools. This is considered an achievement.
You see, if we don’t bark, this will never happen. If my ministry is not set up, definitely we don’t expect the director of education to go and pester the minister. But as a minister, I can directly talk to Dr Maszlee Malik (Federal Education Minister).
Under the current political landscape, is it easy to deal with the federal government?
Dr Maszlee and I have been talking for quite a number of times despite the fact that the federal government is under PH and we are Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS). I have met Dr Maszlee no fewer than four times.
In other words, our relationship is very cordial, and we want to maintain that.
What is the ministry’s strategy to ensure that the quality of education in Sarawak is in line with the aspirations and needs of a developed state by the year 2030?
It is a challenge, because we don’t have the authority over policies. This ministry is formed to complement and supplement what MOE is doing. So, we don’t have any say in terms of policies.
Take for example, Sarawak is the only state that introduced the Dual Language Programme (DLP) to train teachers in the teaching of Science and Maths in English. And that is all paid for by the state. And we are the one who allocate money for teachers’ training. We have spent RM11 million for this, and we have been discussing with MOE on how to get all the teachers trained — 2,535 of them for next year. We will be the first one in the whole of Malaysia.
When Dr Maszlee asked if Abang Johari would take up the challenge to teach Maths and Science in English in April this year the latter, without hesitation, he took up the challenge. But first thing I said was that it would be an uphill battle.
It is going to be an uphill battle, because all these teachers have been teaching Maths and Science in Bahasa Malaysia for the past few years, and suddenly this is going to change now.
More than a thousand schools have this DLP, as a result less than 50 per cent of the teachers are teaching using English for Maths and Science. So, from this, I told MOE, we want to make sure all the teachers are trained and the teachers are undergoing training now. The training was conducted by some 200 lecturers from Teacher Training Institutes (IPGs) throughout Malaysia.
It is not easy, that is why I have instructed the Education Department to monitor closely for the next six months as we begin teaching Maths and Science in English next year.
In your opinion what is best education model Sarawak can adopt?
One thing good about Finland is that the education policy doesn’t change when a minister changes. Because the policy sticks. I think it is designed and controlled by a board, so the ministry is there more or less to just implement.
On the Japanese model, they stress the formative years, meaning preschool education and primary education. But ours here, sorry to say, our primary schools’ facilities are not there and we are more or less stressing secondary and tertiary education.
On the other hand, Singapore’s education system is a very tough model. The emphasis is on students’ performance, so the pressure is on the students. But still it is one of the best in terms of their results in Maths and Science.
What is your aspiration for education in Sarawak?
We hope to have authority over policies so that we can set up our own policies and look at how to better implement the curriculum.
What we are doing today is exactly what the federal is doing. That is why, we should follow the examples of Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Iceland. The education people there have the authority to formulate policies. Ours here is too centralised.
However, under the new curriculum, starting from next year, there will be 89 electives under several packages. This system or model is supposed to provide creativity, innovation and prepare our boys and girls for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0).
