STRENGTHENING EDUCATION SYSTEM: Muhyiddin speaking at the PTA annual gathering. — Bernama photo
KUALA LUMPUR: The Education Ministry will be setting up a data bank on infrastructural needs of schools throughout the country soon so that students and teachers can have a more conducive environment, said Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
Muhyiddin, who is also Minister of Education, said the ministry would be using the data to ensure assets owned, including buildings, were periodically maintained and to evaluate shortcomings faced by schools.
“In this way, we can evaluate deficiencies in schools and we will also know the school’s condition without Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) having to apply for infrastructural improvement as the required data would have been captured by the ministry.
“We would also like to ascertain how conducive the environment is not only for students but also teachers. I have been told the staff rooms of some schools are inadequate but we hope to overcome such problems soon,” he said at the Federal Territories PTA annual gathering here yesterday.
Muhiyddin said when the matter had been agreed, headmasters and principals would be asked to provide an annual report in a special format on the situation in their respective schools.
Muhyiddin said the move was in line with the requirement to developing a national school education system through a review of the national education system as announced by the government recently.
He stressed that the effort to strengthen the quality of the education system was not a mere slogan but was the commitment that needed to be implemented as it could determine whether the country could achieve Vision 2020.
“The deciding factor on whether we could become a high income developed country or being caught in a group of medium income in the developing nation group depends on how far our education system could generate the human capital needed to propel the nation’s progress to another level,” said the Deputy Prime Minister.
TO ensure a review of the national education system is carried out comprehensively, the Ministry of Education he said was launching the National Education Dialogue Roadshow for the first time beginning from the end of April to provide opportunities to members of the society to present their views directly to the government on educational issues.
He said the roadshow would start on April 29 at Federal Territory level. — Bernama