EFFORTS by the unity government to improve learning facilities in the country need to be translated into improved quality of education for students, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said.

He said he had instructed the Education Ministry (MOE) and Higher Education Ministry (MOHE) to focus on improving the quality of national education as early as next year in line with the improvement of the facilities.

“This year, we give emphasis to a lot of details, focusing on the needs of students, the construction of new schools (replacing dilapidated ones), has been completed, and the infrastructure facilities are sufficient,” he said.

“When they need help, we give. So (next year) the performance cannot be the same as last year (2023). There has to be an improvement. I have told Fadhlina Sidek and Khaled Nordin that the focus after this is on raising the quality of education.”

Anwar said this in his speech at the handing over and launch of the Dilapidated Building Pilot Project at Sekolah Kebangsaan Bandar Baru Bangi in Bangi today.

The prime minister said Malaysia cannot progress if the quality of education does not improve.

He said the emphasis on the need to improve the quality of education in the country will be brought to the cabinet meeting, which he will chair on Friday.

Efforts to improve the quality of education did not rely solely on the efforts of the ministry alone, he said, adding that it also required the cooperation and involvement of the parent-teacher associations.

“Yes, the ministry has to focus on developing children’s mastery of language, mathematics, numbers, science and computers, but I also request the parent-teacher associations to discuss how to involve parents,” he said.

“At home, we encourage parents to pay attention to their children. Every night, make sure the children do their revision for about half an hour or one hour.”

He said the teachers also needed to provide suggestions to improve their students’ understanding of the subjects taught by them. – Bernama, November 7, 2023.