Bold reforms needed for broken education system
LETTER | Let me lay bare the dismal state of our education system. First, we are grappling with a serious shortage of quality teachers and competent principals. Meritocracy has been sidelined in favour of affirmative action, often at the expense of educational excellence.
Even many Malay parents are now sending their children to Chinese vernacular schools, widely perceived to offer a more disciplined, high-performance culture.
Second, our public universities are in no better shape. The late Arshad Ayub once boldly claimed that Malaysia has around 2,500 professors of inferior quality - a damning indictment of academic mediocrity.
Far too often, we see underqualified lecturers teaching equally underprepared students - many of whom should never have been admitted into university in the first place.
As an educator at heart, I don't make these claims lightly. I speak from over two decades of experience, reinforced by extensive interactions with thousands of teachers, principals, and university lecturers.
I have also reviewed appallingly weak PhD theses - some shockingly approved by local universities that churn out doctorates by the hundreds, seemingly without rigour or shame. Let's stop the political spin. It's time to confront the elephant in the room.
I welcome a public debate on the state of our education system and the urgent reforms that are needed. What our beloved nation desperately requires is bold, inclusive, and visionary leadership - leaders with the moral courage to take the bull by the horns and drive systemic transformation.
We must reintroduce meritocracy and foster a genuine high-performance culture across all levels of education. Because at the end of the day, the future of Malaysia hinges on the quality of its human capital, and that begins with the quality of its education.
RANJIT SINGH MALHI is an independent historian who has written 19 books on Malaysian, Asian and world history. He is highly committed to writing an inclusive and truthful history of Malaysia based on authoritative sources.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
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