ONE deputy vice-chancellor of a public university lamented recently that he was finding it increasingly tough to fill up the places for science courses at his university.
Of all the 2,400 places available for undergraduates doing science in this year’s intake, some 700 remained unfilled.
There is just not enough demand, as opposed to social sciences and business administration courses, where there is no shortage of applicants.
The deputy VC (who wants to remain anonymous for obvious reasons) said most universities in Malaysia were having difficulty in drawing science students.
His explanation was simple: “Students are no longer interested in STEM programmes.”
Universities now have to bear the brunt after years of neglect in STEM education (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) at the school level.
Science labs are now a rarity in secondary schools. By the way, matriculation colleges under
the Education Ministry are just introducing science labs from this year.
In another ominous sign, there are now more arts classes than science classes in schools.
As one parent told me: “My daughter is in an arts class. She is not interested in the science stream. I don’t blame her. The teaching of science these days is dry and uninteresting.
“Unfortunately, there are no signs of any attempts by the government to remedy the situation,” he said.
In fact, the government has, since the 1970s, been giving priority to science and technology education.
That is why it rolled out the first National Science and Technology Enrolment Policy of 60:40, which guaranteed that 60 per cent of students would be enrolled in science with the remaining 40 per cent in arts.
It has even built 69 science secondary schools (Sekolah Menengah Sains) and 51 Mara Junior Science Colleges.
STEM, by the way, is more than just an acronym for science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It is a philosophy.
STEM is an approach and a way of thinking for educators — and, to a certain extent, parents — to help students integrate knowledge across subjects by incorporating flipped learning and encouraging them to think in a more logical and holistic way in order to be equipped with 21st century skills.
But somehow, the execution is poor. The mindset change is not there, too.
It is little wonder why we are overproducing arts graduates, with many of them now jobless.
This is a fact highlighted by none other the Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh recently.
Graduate unemployability, (a.k.a. jobless graduates) was found to be the highest in six university disciplines, he told the Dewan Negara.
He said graduates from business administration, applied science, human resource management, accounting, arts and social science disciplines found it tough to secure jobs, even six months after graduating.
A total of 54,103 graduates were unemployed six months after they completed their studies last year, Idris said.
The number was based on the Graduate Detection Survey System (SKPG), which recorded 238,187 finishing their studies last year, he said.
This means 22.7 per cent of those who graduated last year are unemployed (or 2.2 persons out of every 10 people), a pretty high level considering the national unemployment rate of just 3.4 per cent.
What can we do to tackle the challenges in STEM education?
For sure, we have a clear policy.
The Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 aims at, among others, improving the learning and teaching process of science and mathematics-related subjects to get more students to enrol in science streams.
Despite having the 60:40 ratio target of having more students to enrol in science streams since the 1960s, the government has not been able to achieve it.
The Education Ministry (MOE) must, without any further delay, revamp the way teachers teach
science and mathematics in schools.
It must focus on developing the students’ higher order thinking skills, encourage project-based systems and the use of ICT-based games to make learning fun.
There should be more hours allotted to science subjects so that teachers can carry out inquiry-based science approaches.
The MOE should also give schools greater autonomy in choosing textbooks and in implementing the science curriculum.
Last but not least, STEM teachers should be given access to continuous professional development on delivery methods to encourage inquiry thinking.
The writer feels in a digital world, the winner does not always take all.