KBSM, PPSMI, SBA. These are systems and policies that have been left on the dust heap of the creaky Malaysian education system by a succession of ministers and Maszlee Malik doesn’t want to be one of them.

KBSM is the Malay acronym for New Secondary School Curriculum, which was used in the 90s but has since been stopped, while PPSMI is the divisive policy to teach Science and Mathematics in English.

PPSMI was introduced by Dr Mahathir Mohamad towards the of his first tenure in 2002 but was stopped in 2009.

The School Based Assessment (SBA) system was devised in 2012 as a new grading system that was supposed to end rote-learning and introduce more autonomy in schools.

But despite its good intentions, it doubled teachers’ workload due to poor implementation and the programme was overhauled in 2014.

And now, unlike his predecessors, Maszlee is not going to introduce a novel education system or policy only to see it abandoned later when someone else takes over.

Instead he wants to change the way the ministry, schools and universities work so that current effective policies are actually implemented and these institutions produce smart, critical-thinking citizens.

And to do that he will focus on creating a value-driven culture that he hopes will turn national schools and universities into the institutions of choice for Malaysian parents.

“Instead of new policies I want to create a culture of love, happiness and mutual recognition in our education system. If I bring in any new policies it will not be radical,” Mazlee told The Malaysian Insight.

“In the next one year, kids will be happy to go to school, teachers will be passionate about teaching and parents will be happy looking at the development of their children.”

The value-driven culture is also one of the three things that Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad wants to see in schools.

“The other two are technologically-based teaching and learning, and strengthening English proficiency.”

To this end, Maszlee will not abandon the National Education Blueprint (NEB) despite the fact that it was created by the previous Barisan Nasional administration.

“It is a tremendous, excellent project. It should be continued as there are good policies,” said the former Islamic studies and political science lecturer.

The NEB’s policies, such as strengthening English proficiency through the Dual Language Programme (DLP) and High Order Thinking Skills (KBTA), jive with his plans.

“I will also look at introducing aspects of experiential learning so that children will find it fun about discovering the world, and so that they have a spirit of volunteerism and civic engagement.”

For this, he will look at introducing the subject of civics and philosophy for secondary school pupils and especially university students.

In order to bring back the fun in learning and teaching, Maszlee is looking at changing aspects of the school environment which make these things a chore.

This includes reducing classroom sizes and reducing the administrative paperwork that teachers are currently saddled with.

“At the end of the day, it is culture that survives. You can come up with great policies but they might not be implemented properly. But if you nurture culture, it lasts forever.” – May 31, 2018.