KUALA LUMPUR: English medium schools will be introduced in Sabah and Sarawak under a pilot project in a move to improve language proficiency.
Qualified Malaysians with overseas examination certificates that are equivalent to Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia and Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia such as the Unified Examination Certificate Senior Middle (UEC) examination will be considered for enrolment in higher educational institutions if they obtain a credit in Bahasa Malaysia and pass in History.
These are among the many initiatives contained in the BN Manifesto for education.
Other measures to improve English language proficiency are the Dual Language Programme (DLP) and High Immersion Programme (HIP).
The Education thrust outlines several initiatives for education and human capital. With a clear mandate from the people, Barisan Nasional will focus on several areas to accelerate these two important aspects.
Five million schoolgoing children will also be equipped with digital skills for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0) within five years. Other than that, the government wants to implement appropriate classroom sizes and reduce teachers’ administrative workload as well as provide better teaching aids.
The manifesto stresses that human capital development and education in the country must be crafted to suit the demands of the times.
As such, Malaysia needs a holistic plan to develop the potential of young children, to students in primary and secondary schools to enhance technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and develop a dynamic university ecosystem that is in line with the needs of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0).
According to the manifesto, a clear commitment to strengthen human capital and education will determine the future of Malaysia.
Government initiatives and actions, it noted, are the best benchmark to evaluate efforts at preparing the people with the creativity, thinking capability and skills to face an increasingly competitive landscape.
Other initiatives are introducing special student discount cards to reduce the cost of transportation, government services and education-related necessities.
BN wants to provide incentives to capable graduates and retired language teachers to administer online teaching and learning services.
Other initiatives for education under the BN Manifesto are:
• Providing a one-off assistance of RM1, 500 for the children of Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M) recipients that enrol in higher educational institutions.
• Upgrading all dilapidated schools in rural areas within five years.
• Matching university students and future employers at an earlier stage through a Job Matching Committee under the SL1M 2.0 programme.
• Creating highly skilled construction workers by implementing training schemes and offering commensurate wages.
• Encouraging employers to provide childcare facilities by offering special initiatives such as tax exemptions.
• Upgrading the Integrated Special Education Programme (PPKI) in all schools involved to unlock the potential of differently-abled children.
• Increasing the limit of the Special Incentive Matching Grant for the 1Malaysia Education Savings Scheme to RM1,000.
• Providing skills and work training opportunities for underprivileged youth.
• Extending the income tax exemption period for parents of National Education Savings Scheme (SSPN) account holders.
• Increasing the number of subjects in the Dual Language Programme (DLP) to make it more comprehensive.
• Expand the implementation of ‘Anak Angkat’ programmes for socio-cultural development of students, teachers and public sector employees.
• Incorporating more historical facts and perspectives from Sabah and Sarawak to enhance the History subject syllabus.
• Building and increasing the capacity of boarding facilities for rural students across the country.
• Expanding high speed Internet access (100 Gbps) to all public universities.
• Allocating RM12 million for special education programmes to rural communities benefiting 615,000 participants.
• Providing a RM3 million allocation to conduct parenting workshops in 168 identified locations.
• Establishing an Institute of Native and Indigenous Peoples Studies at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak and Universiti Malaysia Sabah.
• Transforming the infrastructure at public universities to achieve smart campus status with the introduction of cashless transactions.
• Reducing dropout rates among Orang Asli students and increasing the number of literacy programmes in rural areas.
• Strengthening the multi-stream education system by approving the construction of new facilities according to needs, alongside special allocations for development and maintenance for all Government assisted schools (SBK), including national-type Chinese Schools (SJKC) and national-type Tamil Schools (SJKT).