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Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak
Prime Minister of Malaysia
From : Eone
Ordinary Joe
Alhamdulillah, I am blessed to be born as a Malaysian. I have been traveling around the world, and proud to be Malaysian. There is a saying, " Jauh perjalanan luas pandangan " and there is truth in it. Malaysians are being envied by other nationalities in may respects. We have Proton cars on the roads outside Malaysia, we have Petronas, Malaysians do not require VISA to enter many countries, even better than our counterparts in USA and Europe. When I mentioned that I am Malaysian, I received so many good words from perfect strangers and the next name that being mentioned by these perfect strangers is none other than " Mahathir Mohamad" . I was once shown an email by my Syrian friend that he received from his friend. The email mentioned, how Malaysians used to live in the jungle and remote areas and do no have greater civilization like them, and within a time span of 53 years after Independence, we have gone so far and done a great job in developing the country, much to the envy of others. The rest are still struggling to become one, and in trying to emulate Malaysia. Kudos to the previous leaders and it is a real challenge to the existing leaders to match if not better the performance of their predecessors. Every single news in Malaysia always received great attention from these people-politically, economically and socially, and Malaysia have always been in their radar.Malaysia is very closed in their heart, and not to much to say they love Malaysia so much. A good example, was the Imam Muda program. This program received wide coverage in the medias in the Middle East and Europe, USA and even in was aired in BBC Arabic.
While we have achieved so much, that shall not result us being complacent and an "arrogant "nation. We shall continue being humble, continue progressing and improving and help others to develop themselves and prospering our neighbors. If the Prime Minister asks me, what are my wish for 2011 Budget, here are the some of the things, that Malaysia could do better and I hope this will be incorporated in the budget ;
1. Improvised the education system in Malaysia.
There is nothing wrong with our education system. We managed to produce good leaders, outstanding businessmen, good bureaucrats, efficient and effective administrators. However, the education system fit for those generations, shall I say Generation X. We now have Generation Y and in the future we may have generation XYZ. I would like to see a more " holistic approach "in our education system, balance between the physical or worldly needs and spiritual needs of the students. These two (2) shall be integrated, as we have seen so many failures when one is only focusing on the physical or worldly needs of the students. This shall start at the very young age, to mold students with the right mindset, right behavior and at the same time focusing on the physical or worldly aspects of development. We have to produce generations who are "like a fish in the ocean, living in salty sea water and yet the fish taste so good and provide the required protein for human being".
Another aspect of education system that I would like to see, is to make education and learning as a fun process, not something that being put on the students throat to swallow. These require thinking and mindset change on the teachers and those educators circle. People have to be creative in coming out with curriculum and syllabus that have the elements of fun in learning. Gone those days, students are afraid of the teacher. I would like to see an environment when students are eager to go to school to learn, and school provides the environment that stimulates the interest of the students.
There shall be a excellent rapport between the school and the association of parents [PIBG] and mutual understanding or a contract between the parties with regards to the roles and responsibilities of the two parties. PIBG is not all about meetings and meetings and place to point fingers to each others. It is how one play his roles for the sake of the students. I would expect the teacher to visit the students home, see how they live and who are the parents are, and parents shall make this happen and have an open mind that the teachers are doing the responsibility. PIBG shall initiate, programs that goes beyond the " school formal framework" such as working together to initiate students exchange programs with students from other parts of the world, social responsibility [ raise funds to help the need] as a way giving back to the community, involve in the entrepreneurial programs, conducting drama classes, learning music, learning foreign languages, spiritual activities according to one's believe, going to cinema together " wayang tancap" [ Indonesian called it ] every month [ like good old days in the school football field] and so much more. This must be happening at all school and not only at selected few. So much collaboration between the school and teachers, that will make the symbiosis and synergy to produce 1Malaysia school children and generations. It requires mindset both for teachers and parents.
AUKU as excuses for not being able to excel in the area and shall use it as a challenge to be more creative in producing quality graduates. The government is one hand, shall listen to the university, and the fact time has changed to make the management of educational institute more transparent, effective and efficient.
Having said the above, what are the successful factors to make it happen ;
1. Make teaching profession as the first choice of employment. I believe so many people are passionate about being an educator, but due other considerations, teaching or educator as the last resort of career for failure to get better opportunity in the corporate world. The government shall treat school as "another corporation "or "virtual entity" where its has its own performance indicator. While profit is not the main motivation, effectiveness and efficiency is the key. Make the teacher's and educator, attractive enough at par if not better than the others to attract the best talents pool with passion to be in the school. This also include for teachers to have a career ladder, and promotions are not based on seniority but rather performance based and capability based teachers. We can no longer afford " excess luggage or baggage " in the school and non performing teacher shall be dealt appropriately and accordingly. Above all, make the package attractive !
2. Separate between school administrator and school teacher- Teachers focus on the students capability building and mindset change, and administrator focus on the effectiveness and efficiency of the government fund allocation to the school, and eliminate waste permanently. School shall be managed professionally, if we would like to see the future generations succeed in developing Malaysia. It shall be managed by professional. Education system shall be seen as an investment for the future benefits, producing quality generations, as such it shall not be seen as cost centers, but rather " profit center" in the sense, managing the funds and resources provided by the government in the most effective and efficient way.
3. The government shall encourage teacher's exchange programs with other develop countries especially in the subject where the country are strong at and do have a good quality of education system like Norway , Finland, Austria, UK and Australia, USA, Singapore , Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, and other countries deem fit the bill. This will expose the teachers to different environment and learn from the best, and will bring the ideas and implemented at the school.
4. School as playing ground for the kids to grow and mature, and ready physically, mentally and spiritually for them to face the world. These play ground shall be fun and stimulate the interest for them to learn and be creative. Leverage on the technology and encourage each students to have one lap top, and encourage them to leverage on technology to stimulate their interest, like producing their own movie, software, animation, album music, phone application, own radio station, and those that can stimulate the interest in learning. Stimulating the innovation culture shall begin at the very young age.
5. Institute of higher learning- if we have good ranking university in the world, it will attract the cream of the crops to study at our universities and shore, and will benefit the country should this best people decide to contribute to Malaysian success stories. With the Greater Kuala Lumpur initiative, the best talent may choose Malaysia as a place to work, live and play. Malaysians shall not be felt threaten, as they shall raise their bar to the be at the same playing level field of competition, and the government however shall have policy to protect the interest of Malaysian are well protected and taken care off. The opportunity to mingle around and knowing other people from different background shall be leveraged by the students, not to be missed. Imagine, with the network that this people have from all over the world, will make Malaysia more prosper. This will generate income to Malaysian government in terms of the personal and business income tax, and provide Malaysians with job opportunities, and its spill over to the politic, economic and social is just tremendous.
6. Institute of higher learning shall be responsible and accountable for their accounts and funds allocation, to make it effective and efficient and eliminate waste permanently. University shall be managed by professionals and offers good learning facilities to produce qualities graduates and workforce.
As such, I would propose the government Education sector shall receive the highest budget allocation in 2011 budget, as part of initiative to improving the education system in Malaysia to be at par if not better and the best in the world. Let us rewrite the history, by making Malaysia as education hub, incubator, knowledge base economy of the world, and make our university among the best in the world.
I will write my other wish in my next entry .........
DISCLAIMER: Notice :Opinions, stories , thoughts expressed are blogger's own and do not necessarily represent the views of the institution or the organizations by which the blogger is employed or any specific person who so ever, either dead or alive.
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