What does mass education do to and for a developing country? How was it implemented and what have been achieved so far?
In a developing post-colonial country like Malaysia, nation-building is central to the formation of a school system that can safeguard national independence, bring about economic growth, increase social mobility, and create a united society.
Nothing spurs social mobility in post-colonial and developing societies the way mass education does. The burden of providing educational services was monopolised by the government. Without the enormous investments put into their education systems by governments in the past, the huge gaps that now trouble many developing countries would be much worse. Remarkably, many poor rural kids have become professionals and achieved decent living having achieved proper education. Thus the expansion of public education was absolutely a good thing.
As we entered the 21st century and in the early stage of Industry 4.0, the current education system that most countries still use today is considered outdated and failing. It was actually constructed to cater for Industry 2.0 (during the 19th century) when schools prioritised content delivery for knowledge absorption. It was useful then for the generation of assemblyline workers in factories involved in mass production (such as in car and electronic factories).
Literate and numerate people are much more productive workers, but we must recognize the limit of public monopoly in education especially in societies that long ago achieved mass literacy.
The problem is public monopoly providers in education suffer the same problems as those afflicting monopoly providers of anything; quality decline because of lack of competition and the creeping power of the vested producer interest.
In the 21st century where we are now, there is complete automation in factories where robots have replaced human beings. Industry 4.0 is the age of automation, artificial intelligence, advanced social media and computing which keep our world connected, and it is accelerating very fast.
The speed at which new knowledge and information is generated is exponential, be it in finance, biology, computer science, mathematics or geography. Revolution in communication technology (Internet search engine, wi-fi revolution and the social media) in the last two decades, for example, has turned the old educational structure into a hindrance.
Recent developments in technology make education policymakers the world over grapple with questions about the new goals of education for the future generation. What jobs are the education system preparing our children for? What school certificates are going to be of value in the future? Are we obsessed with test scores or should schools create environments where students can be creative, able to express themselves and learn to solve problems? What about the state of technology used in school? Are public schools capable of delivering quality education? These are some of the questions asked during discussions in various public forums and by parents.
Although no country has developed and implemented the perfect national education system, a few countries are well on their way while many others have strategic plans to move towards the goal. According to the PISA (programme for international mathematics assessment at the age of 15) score and the world economic forum, countries that are the best at preparing children for future jobs are Singapore, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea.
In these countries, a quarter of the students are in private institutions. Governments do not monopolise the education system. The private sectors are encouraged to provide good education for their increasing population.
Recently, Scandinavian countries, especially Denmark and Sweden, who are famously known for their welfare policies have started to replicate these approaches. Decentralization of power was implemented, public school administrations were given more autonomy to make decisions and private institutions are increased. Private education providers encourage competition to flourish to benefit more people. They are more efficient and provide higher quality education.
In Malaysia, there is an increasing trend among parents in the last two decades to send their children to private schools such as Chinese independent schools, Tahfiz schools, international schools and private English schools. However, the number of our students in private schools is still relatively small compared to those in Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea and Japan.
At the same time, continuous efforts to improve our public schools must be made. We want teaching to be a prestigious career with remuneration that befits it. We want Malaysia to be known as a top education provider in the world and our schools should be the bedrock of unity.
The education revolution of the 20th century was that basic education became accessible for the most number of people. The revolution in the 21st century would make good education available for an increasing population. If we are against this, it’s mean we are against quality education.
It is the right time for our education system to move to a new realm. In this we need support from various stakeholders such as civil society and the private sector. Striving for quality and excellence is a must.
• Muhammad Asri Mohd Ali is a lecturer and political analyst at Universiti Malaya
