PUTRAJAYA: The policies and direction of the country’s education system will be re-aligned to complement the Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 (SPV2030) blueprint, which is aimed at reducing wealth gap and transform Malaysia into a high-income nation.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in his address as the acting Education Minister to members of the education community here today outlined the main focus of the ministry for this year, which among others is to realise a vision for a shared prosperity through education.
Dr Mahathir said the ministry had the responsibility to lead and educate the younger generation to produce the nation’s human capital.
“This means (by realising shared prosperity through education), the people must be allowed to compete in life. But if they refuse to take the opportunity provided by the government, they will derail the vision.
“Those who do not take the opportunity through hard work will languish in poverty forever. ‘Kekayaan tidak datang bergolek atau melayang’ (wealth does not grow on trees),” Dr Mahathir said at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre here today.
Transformation in the education sector, Dr Mahathir said, should focus on preparing human capital which was skillful, productive and effective and could meet the demands of the new economic industry.
He also proposed for a new curriculum for Islamic Education that emphasised on promoting Islamic values.
Dr Mahathir said he had on numerous occasions stressed on the importance of life values and their importance in guiding the people.
“We say Islam is not just a religion, but also a way of life. Therefore, we need to know what exactly is the Islamic way of life.
“For example, does Islam promote war and killing (as a way of life)?” he asked.
The ministry, he said, had prepared the Civic Education Mapping Details, which covered education areas such as Exemplary Modules curriculum, School Assembly Manual, Noble Values Practice, as well as the Civic Education Practice Manual.
At the higher education level, he said the importance of noble values was emphasised through the Service Learning Malaysia - University For Society (SULAM), which is an approach that provides students with a learning experience through community problem-solving.
Dr Mahathir also spoke on the Sekolah Wawasan concept when he stressed on the importance of unity in nation-building towards maintaining the country’s stability and progress.
“Sekolah Wawasan was introduced to promote solidarity among the people especially among the Malays, Chinese and Indians by putting three different schools in one location.
“The aim is to have schools from different languages (medium of instructions) in one campus to enable children (from various races) to mix with one another,” he said.
Later, Dr Mahathir told reporters that the Sekolah Wawasan was a concept that he had proposed during his previous tenure as the prime minister.
“If we want them (children from various races) to come together, they (schools) should be located in one campus. This applies to national schools (sekolah kebangsaan) as well as Chinese and Tamil (vernacular) schools.
“For certain, events such as the school morning assembly should not be conducted separately, so that everybody will attend morning assembly together (in one campus).
“The same applies for events such as football tournaments. Instead of representing their respective schools, the students can now represent a (bigger) entity that can be divided into groups later like Group A, B and C.”