Public School No Longer Place Of Unity Amid Declining Education Quality

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PARLIAMENT | With public schools declining in quality and no longer being a top choice for Malaysians, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman (Muda-Muar) has lamented how they have ceased to be a place of national unity.
During his speech on the royal address in the Dewan Rakyat today, he compared public schools now to that of the past.
"Before, for example in La Salle (schools), when you go to the classes, the community there is certainly of various races and religions.
"Not just to the extent of various races and religions, but there are also people from B40, M40 and T20 all together," he said.
Give parents incentives
To combat the issue, the former youth and sports minister suggested the government offer parents incentives to choose public schools as their first choice for their children.
This can be done by providing public school students with a free tablet, which would also help narrow the digital gap, Syed Saddiq said.
He added that schools could also provide free nutritious breakfast to all students.
"For schools that already provide (free breakfasts), increase (efforts) to raise parents’ confidence to select public schools," he urged.

Syed Saddiq also called for a change in school syllabus based on the recommendations of experts.
He further explained that the task force in charge of this should be bipartisan so that changes in government will not create repeated syllabus changes.
Syed Saddiq shared that his worry stemmed from being the child of a teacher, and he had seen many middle-class Malays opting to pay steep fees for private schools as the education quality of public schools had declined.
While he does not judge policymakers sending their children to private and international schools as well as abroad, he warned them against opposing reform of the education system. - Mkini

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