Read this pretty long article in the Star on the Third Report card of the MOE in following the progress of the National Education Blueprint (2006 to 2010). One always has to read these reports with a pinch of salt since they can be manipulated to present the facts in a positive light. It requires one to carefully read the past two report cards in addition to the latest one. But the Star article does point out some things which I thought were positive.
For example, the MOE does seem to be trying to introduce more flexibility into the education system. Cluster schools such as MCKK and Tunku Kurshiah College may allow its students to take the International Baccalaureate (IB) program instead of SPM starting in 2011.
The Minister, Hishamuddin Tun Hussein, also indicated that the ministry would be moving away from a centralized system of exams to one that would allow greater flexibility at the school level.
In addition, he also emphasized that the ministry would be putting in more resources into vocational and skills training, something which this blog has emphasized in the past.
At the very least, the MOE is trying to be accountable by trying to keep to the goals of the National Education Blueprint. In the past, it seems to me that once these Blueprints were released, nobody pays any more attention to it and they are chucked aside quickly.
One complaint though, I couldn't find any of the report cards on the MOE's website. If someone can find it, please let the rest of us know.
Dear YB Tony,
ReplyDeleteI am launching a programme to trace children who have dropped out of school or have never attended school before with the aim of getting them back into the education system. Would appreciate if those who are interested to know more and help, could visit my blog at http://aikmal.blogspot.com for further details.
Thank you.
Ikmal
The annual Times Higher Education is out:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.topuniversities.com/worlduniversityrankings/
Top ten ivy league universities in US and UK have been producing politicians and economists in government and banking that has been causing this mess and the credit crunch itself. Don't give this baloney that everyone must come from an ivy league university.
ReplyDeleteGood point. Likewise, universities outside the top 200 have been producing politicians that have been causing the mess in this country.
ReplyDeleteWonder whether our Apex U (USM) is in the top 300.
ReplyDeleteWhile my uni is ranked higher in this ranking, I think it's more like a ranking of the uni with the most saleable degrees. Things like reputation among peers and also the favourability on which an employer looks at the graduates are given weights of 40% and 10% respectively. How attractive they are to foreign staff and students is also weighted at 10%, while research and teaching are just given weights of 20% each.
ReplyDeleteI think that Tsinghua's ranking is more academically inclined although a lot of weight is assigned to historical factors like previous Field or Nobel prize winners from the university, which may not be a factor in the current state of the university anymore.