PUTRAJAYA: EDUCATION Minister Dr Maszlee Malik may not have had the strongest of starts since Pakatan Harapan took over the government last year, but he believes he has made improvements to the education system since then.
The implementation of the Zero Reject Policy and allowing undocumented children to enrol in government and government-assisted schools are among the achievements he is proud of.
Maszlee, speaking in an interview in conjunction with PH’s one year in government, said government and government-assisted schools received 5,486 special needs children and 2,635 undocumented children since the beginning of this year.
He said the move would hopefully change the future of undocumented children.
“Instead of letting them do nothing, which would contribute to social ills, allowing them into schools would enable them to study and build their future.”
To reduce dropouts, the ministry implemented the Zero Dropouts programme.
The pilot project was conducted in Perlis, Hulu Langat, Langkawi, Pasir Mas, Kluang and Kulai, with 262 secondary school dropouts having returned to school.
Maszlee, who is Simpang Renggam member of parliament, said over the past year, the ministry had been striving to ensure access to education for the Bottom 40 (B40) income group.
“Starting this year, 60 per cent of the slots in fully residential schools (SBP) will be given to those from the B40 group.”
He said 4,888 schoolchildren were offered admission this year and from the total, 2,630 accepted the offer.
“We (the ministry) have also allocated 23,859 seats in public universities for the 2018/2019 session, as well as 60 per cent of 25,000 seats for matriculation programmes for the 2019/2020 session.
“In terms of financial assistance, RM68.1 million has been allocated to help more than 17,000 schoolchildren from the B40 group.
“We hope this will allow them to receive better education and later on, get better jobs.
“To make learning more fun and to prevent students from being burdened by exams, the ministry has abolished examinations for Level 1 (Tahap 1) pupils from Year One to Three. The move involves 1.3 million pupils.
“We hope teachers will focus on fun learning. We want students in this level to be happy to learn and not burdened by exams. Teachers can be more creative to make classrooms more fun.”
With the abolishment, continuous assessment will take place as part of teaching (by the teacher) and learning (by pupils) through Classroom-Based Assessment (PBD).
The assessment report will be released next month.
To ensure a comfortable environment for teachers and schoolchildren, 394 projects are being carried out to upgrade dilapidated schools.
On the higher education front, the ministry has taken the first step towards abolishing the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) 1971 by introducing amendments to remove Section 15(2)(c) of the act, which were passed by Parliament in December.
UUCA will be repealed in 2020 and replaced with a new act. Campus elections at public universities will be run by students.
As for private higher learning institutions (IPTS), Maszlee said the ministry was engaging those in the private education industry.
On technical and vocational education and training (TVET), Maszlee said the ministry was aiming to make TVET a mainstream choice for students, instead of it being viewed as a second option.
Among the efforts are the establishment of a TVET empowerment committee and expanding access to polytechnic and community colleges.
Asked to rate his performance on a scale of one to 10, Maszlee said his late father used to remind him to never “blow his own horn”.
“(But) what we have achieved is a collective effort of Education Ministry staff. Without them, all this would not have taken place.
“It is best to let the people rate our achievements.”