THE Education Ministry released the 2017 Annual Malaysia Education Blueprint (2013-2025) report last week to share the progress made in its fourth year of implementation.
The annual report, as part of the promise given when the blueprint was launched in 2013, not only updates and shares progress but also highlights successes and gaps on the transformation journey.
Currently in its second year of the second wave of transformation ( 2016 to 2020), the blueprint is almost half way in its journey towards its targeted completion in 2025.
In its first wave from 2013 to 2015, it was reported that the ministry had accomplished three things: increase in literacy and numeracy programmes, increase in pre-school and primary school enrolment and reduction in the urban and rural gap. The third wave will be from 2021 to 2025.
Meeting selected education transformation objectives will definitely pave the way for Malaysia to be on par with global standards, but are we on target in meeting the blueprint goals? What is the main takeaway in the 2017 report that shows the blueprint is progressing well?
If there is one area that showed considerable progress worth noting in the second wave, it would be the implementation of inclusive education for students with special needs.
The report, which was launched by Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik last week, saw the number of special needs students in national schools increasing to 32,148 (40.9 per cent) out of the 78,642 students registered with the ministry, surpassing the original target of 35.0 per cent for 2017.
This is a striking contrast from the first year of the blueprint in which only 5,376 (9.6 per cent) out of 56,406 were special needs students registered in the Inclusive Education Programme.
In 2014, there was an increase, of 10,700 (18.4 per cent) special needs students enrollment, climbing to 16,899 (23.2 per cent) students in 2015 and 23,050 (30.3 per cent) in 2016.
The gradual increase in enrollment each year is a result enhanced by the Inclusive Education Model which saw the integration of special needs students with mainstream students in daily school activities.
The model takes into account that children with special needs and capabilities must be nurtured and allowed to grow alongside other peers in schools for better outcomes. Besides studying with their mainstream peers in classrooms, students under this model are also included in everyday school events such as the morning assembly and cocurricular activities.
The Education Ministry is really holding true to its promise of providing equal access to quality education for all — the number one of the 11 shifts to transform the system — by improving the programme offered holistically.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about raising English proficiency despite intensifying efforts to improve the current status.
This includes introducing a Roadmap for English Language Education Reform spanning 2015 to 2025 to align our English language programme with international standards which is the CEFR (Common European Frame work of Reference for Languages).
For UPSR, the blueprint reportsaslight increase in the percentage of passes in the English comprehension paper from 82.6 per cent in 2016 to 85.6 per cent in 2017 and a decrease in the English Writing paper(77.0 per cent in 2016 to 73.6 per cent).
Similarly, there is alsoadecrease of passing percentage for SPM English paper, from 79.4 per cent in 2016 to 79.1 per cent in 2017. Of course, the argument could be that these exam results do not necessarily translate to a measure of English language proficiency.
Nevertheless, there is one early “quick win” that is highlighted from the report. It is an increase of English literacy for pupils that stood at 89.3 per cent in 2015 when they were in Year One to an increase of 95.7 per cent in Year Three last year.
Although it is still too early to determine the impact of the roadmap strategies, one must remember that English language education in this country has undergone several reforms in the last three decades. These reforms have yet to show what could work in raising the language proficiency among our students.
It is claimed that measures via adequate support and training for the teachers and development of effective syllabus and ass essments can impro ve th e chances of this reform to succeed.
However, success also depends totally on implementation of the proposed strategies. There are genuine fears that it could suffer the same fate as previous well-intentioned efforts to raise English proficiency.
On the other hand, it is definitely easier to measure enrollment for the special need students with the inclusive education. It would be far more challenging to measure improvements in English language proficiency.
In his speech at the launch of the 2017 report, Maszlee said the blueprint will undergo mid-term review as part of the efforts to strengthen its implementation. A similar report card of the English Language Education Reform should then be shared with the public not only for transparency purposes but for suitable revision i f nec essary. The Education Blueprint is a long-term plan that has goals with delivery timeframes.
However, time is running fast to ensure that it is one that delivers and not just another plan that looks good on paper.
The writer, who left her teaching career more than 20 years ago to take on different challenges beyond the conventional classroom, is NSTP’s education editor for English content