KUALA LUMPUR:Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak today launched the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 Preliminary Report which outlines 11 strategic and operational shifts to transform the country’s education system.
The preliminary Blueprint offers a vision of the education system and students that Malaysia both needs and deserves, detailing the shifts required to achieve that vision.
The report was earlier tabled by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also Education Minister, at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC), here.
The document says the Education Ministry hopes that this effort will inform the national discussion on how to fundamentally transform Malaysia’s education system, and will seek feedback from across the community on this preliminary effort before finalising the Blueprint in December 2012.
The education transformation is to take place over 13 years, with Wave 1 (2012-2015) focusing on efforts to turn around the system by supporting teachers and focusing on core skills, Wave 2 (2016-2020) on accelerating system improvement and Wave 3 (2021-2025) on moving towards excellence with increased operational flexibility.
The five outcomes that the Blueprint aspires for the Malaysian education system cover the areas of access, quality, equity, unity and efficiency.
It seeks to develop students who possess six key attributes that will enable them to be globally competitive, namely knowledge, thinking skills, leadership skills, bilingual proficiency, ethics and spirituality, as well as national identity.
The 11 shifts identified by the ministry are:
1. Provide equal access to quality education of an international standard.
2. Ensure every child is proficient in Bahasa Malaysia and English language.
3. Develop values-driven Malaysians.
4. Transform teaching into the profession of choice.
5. Ensure high-performing school leaders in every school.
6. Empower State Education Departments, District Education Offices and schools to customise solutions based on need.
7. Leverage information and communication technology to scale up quality learning across Malaysia.
8. Transform ministry delivery capabilities and capacity.
9. Partner with parents, community and private sector at scale.
10. Maximise student outcomes for every ringgit.
11. Increase transparency for direct public accountability.
The report notes that the Education Ministry had launched a comprehensive review of the education system in October 2011 in order to develop a new National Education Blueprint.
It says the decision was made in the context of rising international education standards, the government’s aspiration of better preparing Malaysia’s children for the needs of the 21st century, and increased public and parental expectations of the education policy.
Over the course of a year, over 50,000 ministry officials, teachers, principals, parents, students and members of the public across Malaysia were engaged via interviews, focus groups, surveys, and National Dialogue townhall and roundtable discussions.
The ministry also appointed a 12-member Malaysian panel of experts and a four-member international panel of experts to provide independent input into the review findings.– BERNAMA