Biting the Bullet?

Winds of Change?

Perhaps this may be the first time that the denial syndrome of our awful education performance viz-a -viz other nations has been put aside. There is an indication that the winds may be changing.

There is also a vindication of our DPM and Education Minister that our heads cannot forever remain deep in the ground of feign ignorance.

It has come to pass. Muhyiddin at once admitted that he was shocked with the poor performance of Malaysian students in international assessment tests, despite the tons of money we have spent on education.

If, in the past, he has praised the system, today he has courageously called 'a spade a spade'.

Reports of assessment like Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) showed that the performance of Malaysian students were consistently not up to par.

Even though, our students on the surface appeared 'smart' as testified by our education system, sadly when they are asked to perform in international assessments, they failed to show that prowess. In such international assessments, Malaysian students lagged in the bottom one-third.

The Education Minister seems to have accepted the reality that something is not right with our students particularly the system that has cultured them.

In his speech today at a school in Shah Alam, though he believes that our education standards seemed alright, it is certainly not good enough.

The education system of Malaysia have seen more brickbats than accolades in international comparisons.

According to Pisa's 2012 results, Malaysian students scored below average and ranked 52 out of the 65 countries. In contrast, students in Vietnam ranked 17 out of 65.

– March 13, 2015.