WHILE more money is being allocated for education next year, Budget 2019 has missed some areas, education lobby group Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia (PAGE) said.

Its chairman, Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim, said there was no mention of funds for the improvement of English teaching and learning in schools, STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects, the Dual Language Programme (DLP) and teacher reform.

She said last year’s Budget 2018 had allocated funds for the setting up of a STEM centre to develop the latest learning methods to train specialist teachers using existing facilities at teachers’ training institutes in collaboration with the Academy of Science Malaysia.

The recent midterm review of the 11th Malaysia Plan also mentioned that basic education will focus on improving STEM, as well as the English proficiency, she said.

“But where are the funds for these initiatives? They were not mentioned in Budget 2019,” said Azimah, who also sits on the National Education Advisory Council.

“I hope something will go to the development of the STEM centre. It was to receive some funds under the last budget, but it didn’t happen.

“If we want to implement inquiry-based science education (IBSE), we need to have a proper national STEM centre; a one-stop centre for STEM in the country,” she told The Malaysian Insight.

Azimah also questioned where the money to expand the DLP – a programme that allows the teaching of science and mathematics in English – to more schools was.

In January this year, then education minister Mahdzir Khalid had said 1,429 schools were implementing the programme, which began in January 2016. There are almost 10,200 primary and secondary schools nationwide.

“But at some 1,400 schools, students are not performing well in English. They need remedial classes. Where’s the budget for that?”

Azimah also said the government needed to put money into retraining and reforming teachers.

She said students performed poorly because of their teachers’ performance as educators.

She cited the case of a student in Kota Belud, Sabah, who was suing her English teacher for not teaching the subject and causing her to fail the subject in her Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination.

The student, Siti Nafirah Siman, 18, said the English teacher had been absent for almost seven months and the school principle made her and her classmates take the blame for his absence.

“Teachers not going to class and are going off to attend meetings or some other business, (perhaps) falsifying records… it has been a decade-long problem,” Azimah said.

“Teacher absenteeism has become a culture and nobody bats an eyelid. No one dares to confront the school administration because they fear their child will be blacklisted.

“Teachers need to be retrained and reoriented. They have to remember their code of ethics, too. The government should also get rid of teachers who are not performing.”

Education is the biggest recipient in Budget 2019, with a total allocation of RM60.2 billion, making up 19.1% of the total budget for next year.

The money goes to helping pupils and students from poor backgrounds; school maintenance and upgrading; training programmes at polytechnics and community colleges; a new fund for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET); improving research activities by higher learning institutions; scholarships for Bumiputera students; and, other initiatives. – November 2, 2018.