IN economics, quantity and quality of education are important elements in the supply of labour for production.
Our education system is facing an unprecedented challenge in the wake of school and learning institution closures enforced as part of the non-pharmaceutical containment measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Without proper post-pandemic intervention, it is expected to bring significant long-term effects on society.
According to the "Global Monitoring of School Closures Caused by the Covid-19 Pandemic" data by United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, Malaysia had the longest period of pandemic school closure in the region at 42 weeks compared with 20 in Brunei, 17 (Thailand) and fewer than seven in Vietnam and Singapore.
While the Education Ministry has introduced remote learning strategies, the effectiveness of online learning is still questionable.
Limited Internet connection in rural areas and limited access to digital devices among low-income households are among the challenges faced in the online learning approach.
These unfortunate students have been left behind and this may lead to an increase in the school dropout rate.
Poor schoolchildren are not the only victims of remote learning strategies, as university and technical and vocational education and training (TVET) students are also affected. The decision to close universities and TVET institutions were unforeseen, and not all are ready to switch to an online learning approach.
The transition to online learning may be smooth, but the practical training that requires the usage of equipment in the universities and training centres has been interrupted.
This lack of training is expected to affect the quality of graduates, and may have permanent impact on the labour market because the skills gaps in this cohort will likely be wider.
The less-trained graduates imply a lack of practical knowledge and problem-solving skills. If prolonged, these graduates will face challenges in securing jobs in high-skilled occupations.
The closure of universities and training institutions for a long period will also affect the students' motivation. They may lose interest in pursuing their studies. In some cases, students have used the long break to participate in informal jobs, particularly in the gig economy. In turn, this situation may result in a dropout or change in career path.
The decrease in tertiary education enrolment will affect the supply of high-skilled workers, which in turn, will influence the investment and competitiveness of the country.
It may be too early to assess the situation, but statistics from the Higher Education Ministry showed that the enrolment in tertiary education last year had declined by 99,300 to 1.22 million compared with 1.33 million in 2019.
Immediate action needs to be taken to resolve the "mess" of educational disruption. To alleviate learning losses among school students and re-ignite their interest in studying, task forces that include teachers and parents in the planning of back-to-school strategies must be established.
The role of the task forces is mainly to address the education inequalities by recognising the students who experienced major learning losses.
Schools and teachers will then be able to design programmes to reduce the losses and prevent them from dropping out.
Besides learning losses among school students, the issue of less-trained graduates also needs to be addressed. Special short skills development programmes should be introduced before the graduates enter the labour market to reduce the learning gap.
This is to ensure that there is no mismatch between the supply and demand of skills among graduates and employers.
The International Labour Organisation recently reported that South Korea has granted subsidies for training expenses to sectors facing a shortage of labour.
The subsidies, among others, aim to support training for those entering the labour market with a lack of skills and knowledge.
Altogether, cleaning up the mess caused by educational disruption during the pandemic is a long-term endeavour that requires cooperation from all stakeholders. If we do not take immediate action, we are jeopardising the future of our country.
The writer is an economist at EIS-UPMCS Centre for Future Labour Market Studies (EU-ERA)