Teo-Education.Com

KUALA LUMPUR:  Malaysia’s focus on the education and human capital development will address workforce weaknesses raised by foreign investors, including the lack of skilled workers and poor command of English, said the Deputy Prime Minister.

“We have heard complaints from foreign investors that we lack skilled workers who are competent and proficient in English, information technology and other soft skills,” added Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, also the Education Minister.

Education and human capital development, he added, was vital for successful economic transformation as the country needed more skilled and qualified workers.

“Our education system must produce the next generation of leaders to take Malaysia forward — those imbued with values of excellence, service, integrity and tolerance.”

Muhyiddin gave an assurance that the government was placing utmost priority on education and human capital development, adding that the RM30bil allocation under the 2010 Budget showed its commitment to education.

“We need an education revolution to reform our schools, curriculum and our teaching and learning methodologies to ensure we produce competent, qualified and articulate human capital for the nation, particularly for the business and finance community,” he said in his keynote address at the Malaysian Capital Market Summit here yesterday. He also stressed on the importance of ethical leadership, be it in the government, civil or business societies to ensure Malaysia’s success.

Source:

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/12/4/nation/5238584&sec=nation

The quality of a student’s education is so important that it should be the number one goal of everybody – parents, teachers, community, stakeholders. Whether we like it or not, the students today are the leaders of tomorrow. They are getting the torch passed down to them from their elder. The problem is what are they going to do with the torch – if they are not getting quality education?

There are many problems that limit the quality of a student’s education. One problem is that there are not enough skilled and talented teachers to teach, expose and show how exciting education can be.  This plays a huge role in the education and the safety of students. For example if a fight were to take place between students -  a teacher who cares about the students would try to break it up; while a teacher who does not care and is just there for a pay check would let the students fight and destroy each other. This leaves the safety of the students up in the air.

On the other hand, it the students were taught conflict mediation, the students could have squashed the problems between them with a conversation and a simple handshake. In a overcrowded school this does not happen because the good teacher have so many students that some just cannot get to the students in time to stop conflicts. These are all factors that can and will affect the quality of a student’s education.

Government budgets also affect the quality of education. Insufficient budget hinders  school from implementing well-planned after school programmes to keep the students off the streets and out of trouble. Studies indicated that students get into the most trouble between the hours of 3.00pm and 8.00pm. This time-frame spans from school dismissal till evening / night time. If the schools can implement effective after school programmes – this will provide opportunities for students to get the best possible education they can; including giving the extra help to the students who needed most.

Getting a good education is the best and most beneficial thing that a person can do for themselves. The fact is when the quality of a student’s education is diminished the one and only chance that student have at making their dreams come true is also diminished. A lack of good teachers and supplies, combined with insufficient government funding make students’ education more challenging than it need to be.

Source:

http://www.socyberty.com/Education/Success-or-Failure.773635

Datuk Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak, Perdana Menteri Malaysia, when opening the Conference of Mission Schools of Malaysia at St John’s Institution, Kuala Lumpur on 28 June 2009 said that education will continue to be an important part of nation building. He said that even the new economic model being planned by the government would not be obtained until and unless the country could produce the right kind of people through education.

“Education is not about producing academic persons. (It is about) a person who is educated in his heart and mind. That is the true purpose of education” he said.

Datuk Seri Najib Razak said that apart from the education curriculum, the other strong influence was the role played by schools in moulding students with regards to their beliefs and attitude through the inculcation of values. In this regard, he said that schools  played an important role in nation building in line with the concept of 1Malaysia.

He said the concept of 1Malaysia was to accept diversity and a plural society as a strength instead of it being seen as a problem. He added that 1Malaysia should be looked at beyond just tolerance and its scope and concept could be achieved if Malaysians could look beyond race, colour and creed. “I am convinced, that if we continued on this path, Malaysia can be stronger.”

Source:

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Sunday/Frontpage/25940…

Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, the vice chancellor of the University of Ilorin, Nigeria; and also the president of the African Association of Universities: one of the many delegates who attended the 17th Conference of  Commonwealth Education Ministers (17th CCEM), stressed that education in interlinked with being human. He said that “Education is life itself; without education, there can be no concept of the person.”

According to him, it is education that makes the difference, as it is education that would help unlock the potential of an individual. “A person with a low level of education is basically in a coma, while having a proper education will make one vibrant and dynamic.” he added.

Other conference delegates who had equally passionate views on the concept of education -  Prof  Sandra Harding, vice-chancellor, James Cook University, Australia who mentioned that “Education changes lives“.

According to Talib S. Karim, Executive Director (academics, corporate affairs and business support centre) of the Institute ob Business Management, Pakistan; education is no loner a local issue, but a global one. “That is why this conference is relevant as it is a good platform for the exchange of ideas, which will hopefully encourage more partnerships between countries and more ways in which realistic measures can be implemented.” he added.

Source:

Priya Kulasagaran , The Star Online, 21 June, 2009.

http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file

“The central task of education is to implant a will and facility for learning; it should produce not learned but learning people.The truly human society is a learning society, where grandparents, parents, and children are students together”

Eric Hoffer.

” No one has yet realized the wealth of sympathy, the kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure”.

Emma Golman.

“The only purpose of education is to reach a student how to live his life-by developing his mind and equipping him to deal with reality. The training he needs is theoretical, ie, conceptual. He has to be taught to think, to understand, to integrate, to prove. He has to be taught the essentials of the knowledge discovered in the past and he has to be equipped to acquire further knowledge by his own effort”

Ayn Rand.

“The Aim of education should be to teach us how to think rather than what to think -rather to improve  our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with the thoughts of other men”.

Bill Beattie.

“The one real object of education is to leave a man in the condition of continually asking questions”

Bishop Creighton.

“The central job of schools is to maximize the capacity of each students”.

“Carol Ann Tomlinson.

Source: http://www.teachersmind.com/education.htm

The Ministry of Education (MOE) has been allocated a substantial amount of allocation for each financial year to adapt education to national developmental needs.

Education in Malaysia -Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, on January 5, 2009 stated that the operating and developmental allocation for education over the ten-year period (1990-1999) was 18-20 percent of the total public expenditure and 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). The expenditure on primary education has increased by 97 percent from about RM1.966 billion in 1990 to about RM3.900 billion in 2000.

Almost 90 percent of the annual funds allocated for primary education were expended on emoluments and staff compensations. The remaining sum was outright grants for utility payments, academic/non-academic activities and for the maintenance of school facilities.

The Seventh Malaysia Plan, 1996-2000 indicated that of the total allocation for education, 45.6 percent is allocated for building new schools and additional classrooms; 35.1 percent to expend the capacity for tertiary education (degree level) and the remaining for the provision of training facilities and housing for teachers, hostels hostels for primary and secondary students.

Apart from that parents too, contributed for the education of their children in the form of transportation fees, uniforms, reference books, fees, tutions, pocket money, etc.

“Why build schools?”
“Why did we go to school?”
“What would happen to us/our children if we/they did not go to school?”
“What is the purpose of education?”
“What education can do to individual to individuals and society?”
“What makes human being different from animals?”

“Man rules the world because he is knowledgeable” anonymous

Webster defines “education” as the process of educating or teaching. “To educate” is “to develop the knowledge, skills or character of…” Thus from these definitions, we can assume that the purpose of education is to develop the knowledge, skills, or character of individuals (students).

The fundamental purpose of education is to create good human beings. It serves to bring about the desired healthy growth and development of ones’ personality; thus contribute to the development of good human beings. Education serves as the means to develop oneself physically, mentally, socially, spiritually, emotionally – to enable one to gain knowledge, inculcate the forms of proper conduct and to acquire technical competency so that they can function more effectively in their current and future times – to make the “beings” human to produce human beings; thus preparing the young to face their future.

Education is also a valued based activity in which individuals experiencing and accepting what is valued by our society: the transmission of our culture – customs, beliefs, values, languages, religions, and social institutions to our young children. Apart from that, our society is also exposed to “global” cultures that are brought to us by various technologies – internet, CD’s, magazines, films, etc. So as teachers, we have to know which cultures should be transfered to our young children (students).

An American educator, John Dewey, believed that the aims of education are the transmitting and improving society – the educating and socializing the youngs : to socialize children into the various roles and values of the society so that they are able to help to solve social problems. Educators are responsible in determining the content and activities (experiences) that can help individuals to grow and finally to improve their society.

This is important in a country of cultural pluralism such as Malaysia. It is through education, which offers a standard curriculum that we are able to develop a modal personality of the country – that differs us from citizens of other countries. In Malaysia, regardless of our religion, national origin, race, class or gender; we still have common points of likeness such as : language, diet, dress, “Malaysia Boleh”, etc. Thanks to our education system.

Education is everything. An educated person has a certain aura around him – an aura of dignity and wisdom and certainly possess certain philosophy. Educated people are made aware of what is going on in and around this whole, wide world and can understand the everyday issues and take necessary measures to overcome it.

Educated people have no difficulties in finding a job. They know in their mind that no job is unsuitable or low for them. Thus in a country where people are fully educated, they can find job and have an income to support their family. They too, are fully aware of what is happening in and around the world, are thankful for what they have, and can contribute positively to the country’s development and thus help to overcome ignorance and poverty.

Aren’t we thankful that we the outcome of this  wonderful purpose of education?

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Malaysia#National_Education_Blueprint.