Hurry on education autonomy: PKR
Published on: Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Kota Kinabalu: The State government should speed up the process of getting the administration of education transferred back to the State from Putrajaya as this move will free the State government to make decisions with regards to the education system in State including transfers of teachers, schools boards, school constructions and others.Api Api Assemblywoman Christina Liew said such freedom will also enable the State government to recognise the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) which in turn would stop talented students and workers from going out of the State."Despite recognition by more than 800 universities in the world, our education ministry in Putrajaya still refuses to recognise the UEC and because of this, we suffer a brain drain from our country. It is an undeniable fact that our top scholars have moved to countries that recognise their qualifications including the UEC," she said when debating the 2016 State Budget at the State Legislative Assembly here, Monday.
ADVERTISEMENT
Liew said if the portfolio is returned to the State, it would help the government to address the issue of brain drain without having to refer to Putrajaya at every turn."Strangely enough, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) has no qualms in promoting the entry of students from China. If these Chinese students can be accepted by UMS, why not our students with UEC qualification? What is their entry requirement when accepting students from China?" she asked.Liew added that once the education portfolio is returned to the State, the national education policy, the Razak Report and Article 152 in the Federal Constitution on national language can be implemented side by side with the State government's education policy.The State government, she said must declare whether students with UEC are eligible to apply for entry into local universities and colleges and State civil services as government servants, as what was done in Sarawak and Selangor.
ADVERTISEMENT
"When we control our own education, our State can open our education sector to the world. We will be able to attract the best teachers and administrators from around the world. Sabah can be a global centre of excellence in education."We can also attract the best universities from around the world to establish local chapters here, to help educate not only our people and at the same time educate the world about Sabah," she said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Liew added that India and China for example, the two emerging economies of the future, are short of universities to serve their people with both nations needing another 1,500 universities each.If these universities, she said, could be set up in Sabah, education would emerge as an important component of the State's economy and GDP growth."When we open up to the world, through education, not only will our people learn from the world, but the world learns from us too. The sky will be the limit with our empowerment and the return of our education autonomy," she said.Liew also touched on the importance of English which she said would play an important role in the education system."Recently we read in the news, Malaysia has 1,000 medical interns who gave up because of poor or lack of command in English. This should not have happened. It only goes to show the low standard of English even among professionals," she said.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Daily Express Malaysia
