Minister admits poor education system, says ‘blueprint will solve all’

Education Minister II Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh has admitted that Malaysia's education system was below par as shown in global rankings, and cited Putrajaya's National Education Blueprint as the solution.

“It is vital to assess and compare our education system against the international standards. Out of 74 countries, Malaysia ranked in the bottom third in the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) 2009+.
"This is below the international and OECD average,” said Idris, referring to member states in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
“Primary and secondary school education standards need to improve, particularly so in bridging the gap between urban and rural areas... at the higher education level, we continue to face challenges mainly in the area of graduates' ability to be employed,” Idris (pic) said in his speech at the 18th Malaysian Education Summit in Petaling Jaya, today.
Idris said the Education Blueprint, launched in September last year and formulated with the help of 55,000 stakeholders, would benefit Malaysia as international education standards continued to rise.
He added that another blueprint for the higher education sector was currently being prepared to among others, to empower university governance, democratise access to higher education and improving employability of graduates.
He also said a “war room” was being planned to ensure that the higher education blueprint, to be launched by year's end, would be carried out smoothly.
"I know the responsibility is great, I cannot shoulder the burden alone. But we must keep on listening, we have to keep deliberating to ensure that Malaysian education is at par ‎at least with other countries.
“But that's not good enough for me.‎ I want Malaysian education to be better than other countries in the world,” Idris told some 200 delegates comprising academics and education stakeholders.
On Tuesday, the annual QS University Rankings: Asia 2014 revealed that Malaysian universities lagged behind those from neighbouring Singapore and Hong Kong.
The National University of Singapore topped the list of Asian countries, but the University of Malaya was placed at the 32nd spot. Other local universities in the top 100 include Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in the 56th place, Universiti Sains Malaysia (57), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (66) and Universiti Putra Malaysia (76). – May 15, 2014.