THE oft-quoted 2010 World Bank economic monitor report on Malaysia famously estimates that the Malaysian diaspora stands at one million worldwide, out of which more than one-third possess higher education qualifications. The figures, as admitted in the same report, are conservative at best.

Brain drain is a symptom of many underlying factors. At the dozens of formal and informal Malaysian gatherings I’ve attended overseas, conversations always veer towards what the final push was that made Malaysians decide to leave their homes, families and comfort zones.

A failing public education system is almost always the common factor that tips the scales for migrant families with schoolgoing children.

“I never wanted to migrate. But then, my kids started out at the local public school and after a few years, we realised we didn’t have much choice.”

“I just couldn’t afford to send all my kids to a private or international school.”

“I didn’t want my kids to graduate from a public university, which eventually nobody but Malaysians alone will recognise.”

“My kids have a high chance of not securing a place in a public university because of their race, and I can’t afford to send them to a foreign university.”

The reasons almost play like a broken record, and while some can be argued away as personal experience, there is little doubt that problems with our education system go deeper than just perception.

Even before Education Minister Maszlee Malik was officially sworn-in, parent groups and educationists were already compiling lists of their main grouses with the current education system to be handed over to the new minister.

Maszlee has found himself in the unenviable position of correcting a gargantuan problem, and his ministry not only has to undo what decades of politicking have done to our once-highly respected universities, it has to fix a system that has lost the confidence of many parents and drained the passion and enthusiasm of once-dedicated teachers.

He has to encourage Malaysians to entrust the future of their children in the hands of public school educators once again, so that our schools can be places teeming with ethnic and religious diversity.

To say that a lot is riding on his back would be an understatement.

Which is why his announcement that public school students will now wear black, instead of white shoes, was rather, well, underwhelming.

Students’ attire should be the least of our concerns when it comes to shortcomings in our public education system, and if Maszlee’s announcement wasn’t disappointing enough, the chorus of passionate discourse on this shoe issue has been worse.

Instead of debating whether or not black or white shoes will build more character in our children, we should be asking the government what it intends to do about overcrowding in classrooms, overworked teachers and the shockingly low level of English proficiency among our graduates.

If we expect our new leaders to keep the main thing, the main thing, we, too, have to keep from getting distracted.

We need to be exerting pressure on those who have pointed out the wrongs of the past government, to actually show us they can do better.

Pakatan Harapan leaders have been asking Malaysians to be patient with them, and indeed, we should remember the work ahead is daunting.

But we shouldn’t be patient if our policymakers are spending their time making decisions on school shoes or bags when they should be reviewing policies that will help shape how world-ready our children will be.

There is little doubt that our new education minister is fully aware of the magnitude of the problems with our schools and universities. There is even less doubt that he and his very capable team have a clear idea of how to fix some of these problems.

Maszlee just needs to remind himself that the hopes of every parent, educator and child hinge on his leadership to restore our education system to its once-glorious past.

And he needs to remember that the shoes we wear when we get to that point won’t really matter. – July 23, 2018.

* Julia Yeow has been in journalism for two decades and counts it as her first love, despite enjoying brief stints as a lecturer, clown and salad maker. She is a strong believer in social justice, and holds that there is sometimes more truth in the greys, than the blacks and whites.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.