THE Covid-19 pandemic offers room to rewrite and redefine Malaysia’s education system, said Dr Maszlee Malik. 

The former education minister said the pandemic has also forced a rethink of how students learn and educators advocate. 

Communities and individuals, he said, need to be empowered and engaged, especially under the current climate, to enhance the country’s education system. 

“The country is facing a very unique situation that places the education system in very new territory,” he said in an exclusive interview with The Malaysian Insight. 

However, Maszlee said the responsibility cannot solely be borne by the Education Ministry.

“We choose to go forward when it comes to exploring this new territory, but it cannot be put on the ministry’s shoulders alone,” he said. 

The Simpang Renggam MP said teachers, school leaders and civil societies need to be consulted, because the present scenario is a new realm for the education system.

He said no one can claim to know better, as everyone is experimenting with new ideas. 

During his tenure, Maszlee implemented several progressive policies such as abolishing examinations for Year One to Three pupils – for a more “learning-centred” approach. 

He also implemented the free breakfast programme at schools to be carried out in national and government-aided schools, to ensure that all pupils, especially the bottom 40 children, would not go hungry while learning. 

Under him, the ministry also simplified the registration process for children without citizenship into government schools, hence allowing many children to get their wish to finally go to school. 

A total of 427 stateless and undocumented children were allowed to go to school last year. 

Maszlee’s 20-month tenure, however, was cut short when he resigned earlier this year, just a few months before the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government.

The independent lawmaker recently launched a movement called #UntukMalaysia on November 11, which aims to resolve issues related to education in the face of the pandemic.

“#UntukMalaysia is not only a movement to help the needy. It is also to create awareness about education among Malaysians.”

Since its establishment, the movement has been crowdfunding for several of its projects such as Bantuan #KitaJagaSabah, internet for 1,000 students in Sarawak, and 1Siswa 1Laptop.

While #UntukMalaysia’s current focus is schoolchildren, Maszlee said the initiative also has plans to open up their platform to educate adults. 

Maszlee said it was important that citizens did not view the ministry as the sole problem-solver when it comes to education.

He believed it was important citizens themselves have their hands on deck on education. 

“For example, some people may hold the view the ministry can solve everything in education, but in reality, education is the responsibility of every single individual in this country. 

“Every single person has their responsibility towards education. The least they can do is educate themselves or their family members and their surroundings. 

“In fact, when I was in office, I saw that many things the ministry wanted to do could be done by communities and individuals themselves. The process is faster because you can skip the bureaucracy of the system,” he said. 

He said #UntukMalaysia wants to create awareness that education should not be confined to the four walls of a classroom. – November 22, 2020.