by GK Ganesan Kasinathan, Advocate and Solicitor, Kuala Lumpur
Long ago, Lat drew a cartoon. It compared a study on mosquitoes carried out by a foreign scholar and a Malaysian one. The foreign scholar is shown with a stack of books (volumes 1 to 5). The Malaysian scholar has a wafer–thin manuscript with an arrow that says: ‘Ini adalah nyamuk.’ Do you remember that? Lat should come out of retirement!
That just about sums up the state of our schools.
Most of such institutions they call schools aren’t schools anymore. They do not even resemble schools.
When I went to cast my votes on 5–O–9, I was directed to a secondary school at Kota Raja, Klang. I had to wait 140 minutes. That gave me a lot of time to observe the surroundings.
The condition of that overcrowded, government–funded school was abysmal.
The toilets were bad. The classrooms were dusty and antiquated. Cement rendering across the corridors were cracked and pitted. The metals rails were rusted. Horizontal metal braces had been welded into rusted uprights. These were strung across corridors. The welding was flimsy. Children could sit and fall. There were many sharp edges, on the ground and on the various metal appendages. These posed substantial risk of injury. You know how active children are. I am a grandfather. When my grandchildren visit, we ‘child–proof’ our home. So should these schools. But they have no such thing. An accident waiting to happen.
What was meant to pass for landscaping was dreadful. The grounds lacked water. There were no shady trees. Plants had wilted in dry, caked soil. The shrubbery across the tiny grounds was not surrounded by a lush lawn, but sat forlorn in dry, packed, dust–encrusted earth. I would never send my child to that school. No one should have to. It is time we rebuilt our schools.
Our education system used to produce world–class scholars. Our system was touted as one of the best. We also produced world athletes– take badminton for example.
After decades of ‘independence’ what is the standard of the national education system? It is anything but ‘independent.’ After decades of the previous regime’s ‘selective education,’ it is a mess.
It does not need buffing. It does not need repair. It does not even need an overhaul. These are measures for a viable system. One cannot resurrect the dead.
What we need is to ‘replace’ the education system, not ‘repair’ it.
Replace how?
My suggestion?
Use the Finnish system. Each year, the World Economic Forum releases its Global Competitiveness Report. Data collated for it is analysed for, among other things, a study of global education systems. Finland routinely tops the list. Its education system is famous for having a ‘no banding’ system–all pupils, regardless of ability, are taught in the same class. As a result, the gap between the feeblest and the best pupils becomes–according to their measurement–the smallest in the world.
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