In his presentation at a forum discussing the blueprint recently unveiled by the Ministry of Education, Dr Lim Teck Ghee called on the government to see the document as a first step towards resolving the longstanding crisis in the education system but to avoid treating it as a roadmap that must be strictly imposed.

This was because any blueprint of worth needed to be dynamic and continuously refined in order to respond to the rapid and sometimes unforeseen changes in the world, he said at the forum held at the Kuala Lunpur-Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall on Wednesday (Sept 19).

The forum titled ‘Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 & Your Children’s Future’ was organised by Gabungan Bertindak Malaysia (GBM) and featured Dr Lim who is director of the Centre for Policy Initiatives, Dr Toh Kin Woon, LLG Cultural & Development Center chairman and Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim, Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) chairman in its panel of speakers moderated by GBM deputy chairman Zaid Kamaruddin.

In Dr Lim’s view, the current Malaysia Education blueprint had many shortcomings, including the failure to address key problem areas arising from past politicization of the educational system. This politicization, associated with the implementation of the New Economic Policy in education, has led to a drastic fall in standards as well as the declining quality of human resource development and a less resilient, cohesive and competitive society.

Dr Lim noted that the blueprint was vague on principles, strategies and policies on religious schools, on the poorer performing rural schools in Sabah and Sarawak as well as the National-Type Chinese and Tamil schools. It also failed to make any mention of the establishment of an English language vernacular stream among other areas of public concern.

An answer to the key question as to whether the vernacular schools would continue to be treated as stepchildren in the national school system was not forthcoming from the preliminary draft.

Dr Lim called for an assurance that there would be no discrimination against the vernacular schools in any finalized blueprint, especially in terms of resource allocation. In the absence of a specific assurance and its elaboration in the blueprint, he expressed his fear that it would be business as usual in the many ways in which these schools were being marginalized by policymakers and implementers.

At the same time, the position of Islamic religious schools and their growing number of students was a potential disruptive game changer, Dr Lim believed. He queried whether the human resource potential available from these schools has been successfully integrated within our secular and multi-religious society.

He felt that this development has not been given the close examination necessary to ascertain whether these religious schools would serve the interests of those bent on imposing an Islamic agenda.

Dr Lim believed that the disparities in student performance were partly a result of NEP policies aimed at building up a Malay professional and upper class and the allocation of a disproportionate amount of resources towards an elite group of schools that catered for only a small minority of students.

He expressed concern that the failure to be explicit and transparent on these inequitable policies and resource allocations, especially for the Mara junior science colleges would result in their continuation into the future without adequate public scrutiny.

He hoped that alternatives to the current Mara system would be presented and critically assessed so that all stakeholders could weigh the pros and cons of this education stream and its privileged special position in the system.

At the curriculum level, Dr Lim called on the authorities to be open as to whether the History subject was part of the blueprint. An earlier decision sought to make history a compulsory subject beginning primary school in addition to a new requirement that students must pass the subject in their SPM.

This issue is of great concern to many parents and educationists who have campaigned for a truthful, liberal and progressive history curriculum in place of the present one that is religiously and racially skewed.

In his view, the issue was a litmus test as to whether the Prime Minister would honour his promise to approach education from a national viewpoint and not from partisan lines. Dr Lim found it incongruous that the announcement on the history subject was made at the 2010 Umno general assembly and suggested that this anomaly smacked of a politicization of the school syllabus.

Dr Lim concluded by calling on the authorities and the teaching profession to:

· Learn from the past but not to be imprisoned by past paradigms,

· Ensure that educational rights are not made a political football because of perceived racial, social or economic disparities,

· Practice transparency, openness and fairness and ensure integrity of governance in all aspects of education. Positive values are necessary not only for students but also for the Ministry of Education officials and teachers engaged in the delivery system,

· Rise above racial, religious and political agendas. Every component of our national school system must be regarded as important in our multiracial social fabric and given fair and equal treatment.