KUALA LUMPUR: The government needs to be realistic with its ambition to offer free education at the university-level.
National Professors Council (MPN) president Prof Datuk Dr Raduan Che Rose said despite education being the best and most strategic investment, it must nevertheless take into account the country’s financial situation and other challenges.
He was responding to a statement by the Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik who said the ministry was in the final stages of finding the best mechanism for implementing free university level-education.
The minister said this in response to Datuk Mohd Salim Mohd Sharif (BN-Jempol) during the Dewan Rakyat sitting on Monday.
“For me, his response was a merely a political answer. We have to be realistic on the offering.
“Ideally, we should give free education for all. However, at the moment we can only provide (educational) opportunities for all, not free education,“ Raduan said.
He said providing an educational opportunity meant having good learning institutions that were highly subsidised by the government.
“We have a target of 50 per cent of our work force having a higher education by 2020.
“However, in our labour force, currently only 36 percent have this,” he said.
Raduan said the government should find other ways to boost education among Malaysians.
He said this included lowering university fees and targeted assistance for those who could not afford it.
Raduan said there was a need to be realistic because this country was not like Germany or Scandinavian countries, which offered free education.
“These nations have higher tax regimes.
“We (Malaysia) could not afford it in the near future. Therefore do not make promises and give false hope,” he said.
Raduan said, even if there was money for it, the government had to make sure that the National Higher Education Fund Corporation was sustainable enough to provide assistance based on its capabilities to students who were in need.
“That should be the focus,” he said.
Raduan said, at the same time, the higher education sector was facing a lack of research funding.
He said South Korea contributed about five per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) to research and development and Japan, nearly four per cent.
“Malaysia used to dedicate about 1.3 per cent, and now, it is below one per cent for R&D,” he said.
He said this matter needed to be looked into seriously to allow research to flourish.
“The other focus should be increasing the number of research universities. This should be a concerted initiative.
“This country needs a research agenda and plan for the future, including having centres of excellence in research,” he said.
Educationist Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd Dom said free university education was feasible if the government allocated a huge portion of its annual budget for the purpose.
“At the initial stage, a free education can be given to students from the B40 group,” he said.
“If the minister is confident about this matter to materialise in two or three years, the ministry must have made the necessary calculations,” he said.
He said in primary and secondary education, teachers’ salaries were paid by the government and parents were only paying Parent Teacher Association fees, examination fees and tuition fees.
He also noted that, generally, fees at public universities were much lower than private universities.
Alimuddin said providing free education was a good cause to pursue as this would allow students to concentrate on their studies without having to be burdened by financial constraints.