DR Mahathir Mohamad taking on the education portfolio has given hope to educators and parents’ groups that their concerns and education issues will be efficiently addressed.

Applauding the prime minister’s move, Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia chairman Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim said educators firmly believe that the deterioration of education will lead to the downfall of the nation.

“Obviously, his (Dr Mahathir’s) beliefs and vision is to power our education standards up high, and make it internationally competitive.

“We are confident that he will steer policies that are for the good of our children and Malaysians,” she told Malaysia Decides, adding that despite Dr Mahathir being 93, he is a man of vision.

“He is extremely visionary, to the extent that even people in their 20s do not have his vision.”

Dr Mahathir’s first turn at being education minister was from September 1974 to December 1977, in the cabinets of second prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein and third prime minister Hussein Onn.

When he became prime minister the first time, from 1981 to 2003, the education system underwent various changes, such as decentralisation, increased accessibility, and curricula revisions for primary and secondary schools.

In 2003, he changed the language policy of all national schools to enable Mathematics and Science to be taught in English instead of Bahasa Malaysia.

The Teaching and Learning of Science and Mathematics in English (PPSMI) programme was opposed by several groups, especially Malay ones, leading to it being scrapped in 2012.

Noor Azimah, whose group had championed PPSMI, hopes that Dr Mahathir will relook the policy or expand the existing optional Dual Language Programme (DLP).

She said there are some 1,500 schools out of the 10,000 nationwide teaching Mathematics and Science in English under DLP.

“Schools that meet the four main requirements – having adequate resources, readiness, parental support and achievement in Bahasa Malaysia – can implement the programme.”

She said expanding DLP to include more schools is not easy, as “many don’t have the teachers, and they can’t meet the Bahasa Malaysia requirement”.

“If the Bahasa Malaysia requirement is scrapped, schools can move forward faster and teachers can be trained. Teaching software can also overcome the (problem of) shortage of teachers for the programme.”

Noor Azimah said Dr Mahathir had talked about using teaching software in schools before he retired as prime minister in 2003.

“I don’t know what he intends to introduce now, but using software is probably more suitable today than 15 years ago. Online learning is a norm now, but they will have to improve internet access in schools.”

For the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP), having the prime minister hold the education portfolio may make it easier for the union to highlight teachers’ concerns and fight for their welfare.

NUTP president Kamarozaman Abd Razak said having the prime minister as education minister is “the best” for teachers, as the union will have better opportunities to fight for better pay, among other things.

“The pay is okay for now, but welfare can be improved to address cost-of-living and housing issues,” he told Malaysia Decides.

He said he hopes that policies and decisions will be made swiftly, now that the prime minister is overseeing education.

“In the past, the minister had to go through the proper channels to get approvals and budget. So, decisions were delayed.”

Kamarozaman said the curricula in schools and universities should be revised to ensure what students learn is relevant to the job market, so as to reduce the unemployment rate among graduates.

“We need to relook the redevelopment of the curricula. Teachers and students have too much on their plate. They can’t catch up.” – May 17, 2018.