First here is Prof Murray Hunter (with some editing by me):
Teachers are leaving public schools in droves, and F----na blames them.
F-----na is a first time MP and was appointed straight into the cabinet, in a similar manner as one of her predecessors Maszlee Malik. With little experience in both the fields of education and government, F-----na now heads up one of the nation’s largest government ministries.
F-----na has a strong Islamic pedigree. Her father, the late S----q F----l was a former president of ABIM, the youth Islamic association of Malaysia. F-----na herself attended the Sekolah Agama Menengah in Selangor, and later the International Islamic University of Malaysia (UIA).
F-----na was most probably appointed a minister out of her loyalty to Mandela. This must have carried much weight, due to her lack of experience, and competence in the field her ministry is responsible for.
- There has been little focus on the issues of
- raising the standard of STEM education
- overhauling curriculum to make it more relevant to current times
- and addressing issues such as teacher absenteeism.
(OSTB : That recent World Bank Report said teacher absenteeism is around 30+%. These major education issues have never been priorities. Every year the Ministry gets the largest Budget allocations. For 2024 over RM60.0 billion. The bigger responsibility is how to "distribute" or AGIH all this money - especially within the ambit of political patronage and the gomen's bumiputra policies. As for STEM, curriculum, teacher absenteeism etc it is WALLAHU A'LAM).
The use of government resources to defend teachers in court accused of long-term absenteeism in class, and subject to civil actions, indicates F-----na wants to cover up and suppress institutional problems, rather than find solution for the causes of these problems.
(OSTB : Those high school students should sue them again - for using gomen resources to defend that absentee teacher).
Politicizing schools through the directive to hold a Palestine Solidarity Week, has received international criticism, and widened a rift between some of the coalition partners in the government. F-----na’s decision on holding the Palestinian Solidarity Week, shows an inept lack of wisdom over the potential collateral damage from the exercise. The promotion of violence and bizarre celebration of death has no place in Malaysian schools.
One would have thought a highly experienced person could have been put in charge of one of the most important ministries in the government. Education is full of issues and problems that need urgent attention. The continuing decline of education standards continues under F-----na. With the introduction of Al-Nawawi module indicates F-----na’s attempts to further Islamize school curriculum.
Instead of a heavy weight, a light weight puppet, only there to serve her superior was chosen as education minister. F-----na has shown herself to be a cheap politician looking for publicity, rather than someone passionate about the responsibilities she was given.
Issues and concerns: Further Islamization of schools, stirring up hate and aggression among young children, using public funds to defend staff abusing the system.
This portfolio needs an urgent change of minister.
My Comments :
Maszlee Malik was also a dud in this job. So was Jidin. Maszlee Malik will forever be known as the Kasut Hitam minister. Jidin was the fellow who abolished the UPSR and PT3 national level public exams circa 2021. Instead they brought in class-room based assessment (Pentaksiran Bilik Darjah or PBD). The PBD is assessed by the class teacher whereby the teacher's assessment also determines his or her own performance indicators or KPIs. Isnt that a serious conflict of interest? Even if the PBD is done by another teacher they are still in the same school. It is still a conflict of interest. And how well can a teacher assess 45 to 50 students under their care?
The first batch of these exam-free and PBD based students sat for their SPM last year. Over 83,000 or 23% of 2023 SPM candidates failed maths. The results are poor. We are a Third World country. We are not Finland. We need more exams, especially standardised public examinations to gauge the progress of our students once every two or three years. Then we can take remedial action to correct weaknesses.
To get back on track, it looks like any dud can be minister of education. It is almost as if that is indeed the only qualification.
It is a big job not because it deals with education. It is a big job because it is given the largest Budget allocation. RM60 Billion for 2024. RM60 Billion to be AGIH or distributed. The book publishers, the book printers are a very influential group.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.
