Poor pre-school education in Malaysia

In absence of a systematically laid down syllabus and lack of both qualified pre-school
teachers and adequate support services, pre-school education in Malaysia presents a
sorry picture.
Though the Education Ministry has laid down specific guidelines for
the purpose, they are seldom adhered to, leading to a total mess.
The objectives of the ministry and the government are at loggerheads
and this clash is taking a heavy toll on the quality of education. The
ministry which seems to attach more importance to ‘improving self
esteem and promoting good health’ does not seem to agree with the
policies laid down by the government regarding the same. The latter is
allegedly more interested in teaching the young ones to read and
write and to count before primary school.

Besides this, the two seem to be at crossroads on a number of issues

like:
•Lack of fixed syllabus or lesson plans
•Laying down different techniques for teaching
•Laying different sets of qualifications for teachers
•Difference in lesson plans and syllabus for the tiny tots
In addition to the points laid down above, independent investigations
by The Sun have suggested that the government is primarily
interested in pushing up the rate of enrollment without paying much
attention to the quality of education being meted out to the enrollees.
In absence of a clearly chalked out syllabus, the monitoring task for
government agencies also becomes very difficult as the government
controlled and managed pre schools fall under three agencies.
“The Education Ministry operates the pre-schools (‘pra-sekolah’); the
Rural and Regional Development Ministry administers the Community
Development Department (Kemas); and the National Unity Department
operates ‘Perpaduan’ pre-schools at Rukun Tetangga areas”, as
reported by The Sun.
In addition to that, the pre schools in the private sector fall under the
purview of the Education Ministry.
Lack of qualified teachers required to run these schools makes the
problem even worse. Only 3% pre-school teachers possess the formal
qualifications laid down by the Ministry, as observed by Tan Sri
Muhyiddin Yassin, the Deputy Prime Minister recently.
Since he is also the Education Minsiter, he seemed to know well about
the ills ailing the system and pointed out, “Others only have on-the-job
training or took pre-school education courses not recognised by the
Malaysian Qualifications Agency. By right, the teachers should have at
least a diploma in early childhood education.”
Hashim Adnan, President of the National Union of Teaching Profession
also complained about the working and functioning of the Kemas or
kindergartens. The district education department, according to him,
paid scant regard to the qualifications of the teachers while approving
a Kema-being primarily concerned with the safety measures in and
around the schools premises due to which most such Kemas were
employing ‘untrained contract workers’.
The other problem ailing pre-schools, according to Hashim Adnan, is
the lack of directives laid down by the government regarding the
methods of teaching to be adopted in pre-schools. All private and
government run pre-schools follow the teaching guidelines laid down
by the National Pre-School Curriculum 2010 (KPSK), which together
with Malaysia Kindergarten Association (PTM) conducts pre-school
teaching programmes.
Jawathi Perera, the PTM Chairman, said “the word “teacher” is a
misnomer as those employed at pre-schools are facilitators of games,
activities and learning.
Teachers can employ their own means to teach so long as they cover
from the first page to the last page” of the KPSK.
“So long as all the components are there (in the teaching), they can
teach it any way they want,” she said, explaining that the KPSK was
designed in an “eclectic and thematic method” different from
traditional techniques in schools.
In fact, it is not compulsory to produce children who are able to read,
write and count, she stressed. There are no strict rules as the
children need to progress at their own rate.”
While a majority of the students (almost 95% of them) are able to
cope up with the rigorous demands of the existing ‘system’, slow
learners are unable to do so due to which they have to continue
learning at the pre-school.
Highly critical of the existing method of teaching and the resulting
state of affairs, Jawathi Perera emphasized that the job of the
teachers is to “expose and prepare” the primary school children for
the life ahead.
“The teacher should be very creative, innovative, (and) must see
where the child is lacking, (and) what it is she can do for the child.
“By and large, teachers are left to their own initiatives. However, they
are forced to operate under an overall system that has no uniform
focus and remains inconsistent, varied and discrepant.”
The state of pre-school education, therefore, continues to falter with
no hope of improvement in the near future.
Source: http://www.thesundaily.my/news/local/
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