The impact of the Malaysia Education
Blueprint 2013-2025:
Preliminary Report on Chinese education
Dr Loh Yoong Keong
New Era College
Head, Centre of Law and Society
July 28, 2013
1
1. Focus on the discussion of the
impact of the Education Blueprint on
Chinese education
2. Not involve any political pledges not
stipulated in the Education Blueprint.
2


Launched by the Prime Minister on
September 11, 2012.
The Education Blueprint is one that
attempts to fundamentally transform
the country's education system over
13 years from 2013 to 2025.
3



"Education system" includes:
curriculum,
teacher
training,
school
administration and management, education
system structure etc.
Education system structure = one that is made
up of Chinese primary schools, Tamil primary
schools, national primary schools, national
secondary schools, Chinese independent High
schools and other educational institutions.
While we must be concerned about the
teaching curriculum, training of teachers,
school administration and management, what
deserves more attention is the structure of our
education system.
4


This is because the reform of the
education system structure may
affect the nature and status of
Chinese primary schools, Tamil
primary schools
and Chinese
independent High schools, etc.
Nothing comes more important than
losing the nature and status of
Chinese primary schools.
5
Q: Will the Education Blueprint alter the nature
and status of Chinese primary schools? Will it
affect the survival and development of Chinese
primary schools?
A1: In Chapter 1 of the Education Blueprint, it has
stated very clearly that the country has
inherited a fragmented education in 1957. It
was the Razak Report 1956 and the Rahman
Talib Report 1960 that established an
ambitious vision for what the new nation's
education system would look like (Page 1-2).
6



"Fragmented education system" = A diverse
education system based upon communal
needs.
"New national education system" = With BM
as the main medium of instruction,
emphasizing national unity and a common
national education system
(Appendix 1, Page A-1).(monolingual)
The Education Blueprint has repeatedly
expressed
the
government's
ultimate
objective in building a common (monolingual)
national education system to replace the
colonial fragmented (diverse) education
system.
7
A2: While drafting the Education Blueprint, the
education ministry has commissioned 6 public
local universities to conduct studies and submit
reports on 8 key areas.
UPM: The effectiveness of management and
administration from education ministry down to
schools.
UKM: Whether the curriculum meet the intent of
the National Education Philosophy.
UM: Impact of 7 major education policies and 72
sub-policies implemented by the government
from 1957 to 2011.
8
UPSI:
i.The
extent to which the infrastructure
provided by the education ministry meets the
needs of students and teachers.
ii. The overall quality of human resources.
UM and UPSI: The quality of teaching
and learning processes.
Higher Education Leadership Academy under
the Ministry of Higher Education: The quality of
teachers and school leaders.
9
USM: The structure and school types in the
Malaysian
education
system
since
independence and their relevance today.
USM conducted a broad literature review and
supplemented by interviews with education
experts, Ministry of Education officers, school
leaders and other education groups and
organisations. However, they failed to interview
Dong Zong, an organisation struggling for the
status of Chinese education all these years.
10

The 233 pages USM report compiled by an
eight-member team is certainly closely
associated with the status of Chinese
primary schools in the country.

It is believed that part of the content of the
report has been included in the Education
Blueprint.

However, this report has not been published
by the Education Ministry.
11

Some people have cited a section from pages
7-16 to justify their claim that the status of
Chinese primary schools is being protected by
the government.
"The current structure of the Malaysian education
system will remain. In particular, National-type
primary schools where the medium of instruction
is in Chinese language and Tamil will be
maintained. Parents will have the option to decide
whether to send their children to either National or
National-type primary schools. After primary
schools, all students from different public school
types will converge and enter National secondary
schools."
12
1. Whether the status of Chinese primary
schools is being protected cannot be
deduced merely from this paragraph.
Instead, a thorough examination and
analysis of the Education Blueprint must be
conducted in order not to misinterpret.
2. Nowhere in the Education Blueprint has
mentioned about the development of
Chinese education nor promote the
teaching and learning of mother tongue
of various communities.
13
3.
While drafting the Education Blueprint, the
committee visited a number of types of schools,
including:
（1）National primary schools
（2）National secondary schools
（3）Fully residential schools
（4）Vocational schools
（5）Private schools including Independent
Chinese Schools and private religious
schools (E-13: “RIMUP”）
（6）Indigenous schools (for Orang Asli) in
Selangor
（7） Sekolah pondok in Kedah, and
（8）Ethnic minority schools in Sabah
14

No mention whatsoever
Chinese primary schools.
of
visiting
any

The objective of school visit is to seek
student's perspectives on what makes their
schools and teachers exemplary in a bid to
improve the country's education system.

Does the failure to visit Chinese primary
schools imply that the Education Ministry has
no intention to improve and develop Chinese
primary schools?
15
4. The context only states that the education
system will remain, but short of assuring that
the "nature" of Chinese primary schools will
not be altered.

"Structure" refers to constituent parts.

To maintain the "structure" does not
necessarily imply that the "nature" is also
preserved. (eg. the experience of NationalType Secondary Schools).
16
1. The structure of Chinese primary schools
will be maintained from 2013 to 2020.
2. Beginning from 2013, the "nature" of
Chinese primary schools may be affected.
3. After 2021, there is possibility that the
legal status of Chinese primary schools
may be lost.
17
How does the Education Blueprint affect the
"nature" of Chinese primary schools?
How will the Education Blueprint obliterate
the legal status of Chinese primary schools
from 2021?
18
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Improving access to education (access)
Raising standards (quality)
Closing achievement gaps (equity)
Promote unity amongst students (unity)
Maximising system efficiency (efficient)
19
Improving access to education (access)
Raising standards of education(quality)
1. Beginning from preschools
Changing the main medium of instruction
To increase enrolment and to ensure private
preschools meet national standards, the
government has set up an Early Childhood Care
and Education (ECCE) in December 2010, and
"strongly encouraged" all private preschools to
register with the council.
20

The ECCE will sets guidelines for pre- and
in-service training programmes for teachers.

All preschools are required to adhere to the
National Preschool Curriculum.

ECCE will conduct preschool inspection.
2013-2025: 100% of government preschools
and 50% of private npreschools will be
inspected.
2016-2020: Completed inspection of all
preschools in the country.
21
"Strongly encourage" or "mandatory"?

How will the education ministry ensure the
quality and monitor the students admission of
private preschools if registration is not
mandatory?
On page 7-5:

"All schools are required to adhere to the National
Preschool Curriculum." and not "All registered schools
are required to adhere to the National Preschool
Curriculum "
This
would mean that registration of preschools
is mandatory.
22

Registration = supervision = incorporating
preschools into the national education
system.

Article 17 Clause (1) of Education Act 1996:
" The national language shall be the main
medium of instruction in all educational
institutions in the National Education System
except a national-type school established
under section 28 or any other educational
institution exempted by the Minister from this
subsection".
23
Will Chinese children completing the two-year
national preschool education curriculum find it
difficult to adapt themselves to the Chinese
primary school curriculum where Mandarin is
the main medium odf instruction? Will this
result in drastic decline in the number of
students in
Chinese
primary
schools
culminating in the eventual closure of these
schools?
(Insistence on Chinese as the teaching medium mayn lead to closure of school)

24

Will Chinese primary schools for purposes of
ensuring sufficient student enrolment OR for
purposes of better equip students for
Standard 4 OR to ensure their school leader
emerge as High-Performing School Leader,
ultimately 'self denaturisation" of Chinese
primary schools?
(Giving up Chinese teaching = denaturisation)
25
1.
Raising Standard of Education (quality)
2. Chinese primary schools
Enhancing BM curriculum will weaken the
learning of mother language


On pages 4-8 to 4-9, the Education Blueprint
states that to achieve at least 90% of students
score at least credit in BM in SPM, starting
from 2014, all national-type primary schools
for Year 4 will have to switch to the same BM
language curriculum as National Schools.
The achievement in 2010 was 75%.
26

Proposal for Standard 4 students in national type
primary schools to awitch to the same BM
Language curriculum as National Schools is only
the initial move. The ultimate goal of the
government is for all primary schools in the country
to adopt a common BM curriculum and assessment
standards.

On Chapter 4 pages 4-7:
"The Ministry will aim to develop students who are
operationally proficient in BM and the English Language.
Measures taken include: using one Bahasa Malaysia
curriculum and assessment standard across all schools"

Consequently, not only in Standard 4 but in every
level.
27
The proposal to improve the BM standard
of Chinese primary schools: baseless.
1.
2.
Why put it at 90%?
No evidence shows that the standard of UPSR BM in
Chinese primary schools is poor.
3.
The Education Blueprint only provides data for
students
scoring at least a credit for BM in SPM for 2010:
Malays
(84%), Chinese (63%) and Indians (57%).
4.
Currently the evaluation standards of BM in national
primary schools are only "slightly higher" than those in
Chinese primary schools (pages 7-17).
5.
The overall performance of Chinese primary schools for
UPSR from 2005 to 2011 has been generally better than
that of national primary schools (pages 3-19).
28
29



The proposal is self-contradictory and has the
tendency to alter the nature of Chinese primary
schools.
The curriculum and assessment of BM were set
slightly lower than those of national primary
schools because of the consideration that students
in Chinese primary schools have to learn 3 different
languages and are therefore unable to have equal
number of hours for learning BM.
Standardising the BM curriculum of Chinese
primary schools and national primary school
implies that the number of hours for learning of BM
will have to be increased.
30

The number of hours for the learning of English
cannot be reduced given the fact that the
Education Blueprint continues to emphasise the
policy of Memartabatkan Bahasa Malaysia dan
Memperkukuhkan Bahasa Inggeris (MBMMBI) as
well as to increase students' English exposure
time.

As a result, the number of hours for the learning of
Chinese language will have to be slashed!

While some of the subjects may still be taught in
Chinese, but given the amount of English and BM
lessons, it will be a mounting task for the students
to learn these subjects in Chinese.
31

The unique characteristics and nature of
Chinese primary schools are poised to be
affected.

One of the five objectives of the Education
Blueprint is to ensure equity in education.
However, by standardising the number of
hours for the learning of BM in all schools
without taking into consideration Chinese
primary school students have to learn an
additional language, would it not tantamount
to creating another inequality in the national
education system?
32
Ensuring equity in education(equity)
3.
Ignoring Starting Equality and Process Equality.

One of the five objectives: to ensure equity
in education

Namely closing achievementn gaps.
33

The Education Blueprint has identified
several areas where there are significant
variations in the students' learning
outcome:
1. Between schools from different state
2. Between schools within the same state
3. Between rural and urban schools.
4. Between national-type schools and
national schools
5. Between male and female students
6. Between students of different socioeconomic status
7. Between students of private and public
schools
34

Performance variations between students
of national schools and national-type
schools
Chapter 3 (page 3-19) cites a survey
conducted between 2005 and 2011 which
shows that the UPSR scores of students
between SK and SJK(C) is negligible
(0.3%). Only SJK(T)s still lag behind both
SJK(C)s and SKs by approximately 4%.
35

Performance variations between students
of private schools which using the
national curriculum and public schools
Without quoting any statistics, the
Education Blueprint states that the
private schools using the national
curriculum score about 6% higher than
public schools in SPM (page 3-21).
36
1. The performance of Chinese primary schools
has always been the best among different
types of schools. Moreover, private schools
using the national curriculum always
outperform government schools. Since this is
the case, why not go on with the stronger and
improve on the poorer? Shouldn't the
Education Blueprint fully support the
development of Chinese primary schools and
private schools while encouraging national
schools to emulate Chinese primary schools
and private schools?
37
2. The Education Blueprint emphasises equity in
education, but this equity is only limited to
students
academic
performance
(result
equality).
As a matter of fact, equity in education comprises:
1. Starting Equality;
2. Process Equality;
3. Result Equality.
Although the Education Blueprint stressed on
access to education, it only limited to improve
the opportunity of receiving education, not the
opportunity of receiving mother tongue
education.
38



In a multiracial country, Starting Equality
means that all citizens, irrespective of race and
religion, have the equal opportunity to receive
mother language education for their intrinsic
needs.
Moreover, the Education Blueprint has also
overlooked Process Equality, i.e. inequality in
the allocation of funds, teacher availability,
classroom equipment and training software
etc.
While Result Equality is important, the Starting
Equality and Process Equality are critical as
well. Without equality in these areas, the
pursuit of Result Equality will be rendered
meaningless.
39
Promote Unity Amongst Student (unity)
4.
Chinese primary schools made the scapegoat
for disunity

Chapter 3 of the Education Blueprint points out
that primary school students in the country are in
a highly homogeneous environment, making it
less likely for students to receive exposure to
students of different cultures and ethnic groups,
thus less likely to develop the respect for
diversity critical for unity.
40

It is baseless to accuse Chinese primary schools
of being highly homogeneous and impeding
national unity:
1. Vernacular schools have been in existence ever
since the pre-war years, and the homogeneous
environment of Chinese primary schools is not
something new. Moreover, more and more Malay
and Indian students have attended Chinese
primary schools in recent years. (2012: NonChinese students in Chinese primary schools at
14%)
2. No studies or statistics show that disunity in the
country has been caused by the existence of
vernacular education streams.
41
3.
The 'Rancangan Integrasi Murid untuk Perpaduan"
(RIMUP) only allows students from different races
to mix, but mixing is not equal to unity.
mixing ≠
4.
unity
Even if the homogeneous environment of
vernacular schools is said to be unfavourable to
national unity, isn't this problem solved when
students from national, Chinese and Tamil
primary schools eventually merge and enter one
national secondary schools (SMK)?
42

The concern of the Education Blueprint is not
so much about the homogeneous environment
in vernacular schools. And the same has also
nothing to do with national unity.

The Education Blueprint targets more at the
main medium of instruction, and its ultimate
objective is to build a national education system
using a common language, BM as the main
medium of instruction.
43
"The ultimate objective is for
the National schools to be the
school of choice."
44
The education ministry will intervene in three stages
for the sake of national unity:
Stage 1 (2013-2015)
Improve the BM standard of national-type
primary schools
Stage 2 (2016-2020)
Scaling up the existing RIMUP programme,
implement compulsory community service activities
and strengthening moral education curriculum.
45
Stage 3 (2021-2025)
Reviewing schooling options and
system structure
Page 7-18:
At the final stage from 2021 to 2025, we " will see
SKs and SMKs emerge as schools of choice of all
parents, irrespective of ethnicity or socioeconomic
background. The Ministry will continue to monitor
levels of interaction and integration across
different student group. Depending on the quality
of these outcomes, the Ministry may consider
reviewing the range of schooling options to
determine if further changes are required to
enhance the development of unity".
46
★ If what the Education Blueprint intended is to
resolve the problems of homogeneous
environment problem in Chinese primary
schools and national unity, then why bother to
make the national primary and secondary
schools the choice of all parents?
Moreover, why at the final stage (2021-2025)
when national primary and secondary schools
are still unable to become the choice of all
parents, schooling options have to be
reviewed?
47
Q:
Is the Education Blueprint implementing
the ultimate objectives of the Razak
Report 1956?
Article 12 of the Razak Report:
"The ultimate objective of educational policy in
this country must be to bring together the
children of all races under a national
educational sysytem in which the national
language is the main medium of instruction,
though we recognise that process towards this
goal cannot be rushed and must be gradual".
48

In the pretext of homogeneous environment
and inequlity in BM standards, the
Education Blueprint will from 2013 increase
the number of lessons for BM and thereby
reduce the lessons of Chinese language in
Chinese primary schools. This measure is
poised to progressively erode the nature
and characteristics of Chinese primary
schools, in the end making national schools
the choice of all Malaysian parents.
49


If until the final stage of 2021-2025 the
education ministry is still unable to achieve
this ultimate objective in making national
primary and secondary schools the choice of
all parents, the ministry may proceed to
review the schooling option and system
structure.
This would mean that the status of Chinese
and Tamil primary schools may be eliminated.
50

The Education Blueprint is one that will have
a major impact on Chinese education. Its
implementation will once again plunge
Chinese education in Malaysia into a crisis of
survival!
51
Thank
You
52