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Monday 8 August 2016

Education Minister, Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid


Education is undoubtedly close to the hearts of all of us. It is the root from which has sprouted civilisations; it advances nations and it enhances humanity. The revered Nelson Mandela even said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”...read more>

Education Minister       

The Star/Sunday, 7 August 2016
IN the blink of an eye, Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid has already marked his first anniversary as head of the ministry.
“I take this trust and responsibility seriously as it is vital to ensure quality education to produce the next generation of leaders,” he wrote in a recent blog post on http://portal.tokdet.my, a year and three days after he was appointed to the position.
Reminiscing his initial days at the ministry, Mahdzir said he was thrilled upon being briefed on the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025.
“I was excited because we have a comprehensive plan to bring our system into the top third league of countries that have the best education in the world.”
He however, acknowledged that the transformation of education through the blueprint is a complex process.
Another subject that is close to his heart is the welfare of teachers.
“The blueprint itself stresses that the quality of teachers is important in ensuring the success of students.
“Thus in the first wave, the focus of the initiative is to change the system by supporting teachers and focusing on key skills.
“If they are not cared for, how will they provide the best education for their charges?”
Mahdzir said that he sees positive changes in the country’s education system.
“Primary school pupils have the confidence to interact with me and try to explain about what they have learnt.”
He said teachers also gave their students more space and opportunities to be responsible for their learning, while school administrators have been providing support to teachers “although there are various constraints in terms of infrastructure”.
Mahdzir revealed that some of the earliest initiatives he took was to unite husbands and wives posted in separate districts or states, or what is known as the duka lara (extreme suffering) issue among those in the profession.
“There were initially two transfer exercises but I increased it to three per year. In this regard, the ministry has managed to solve 4,267 of such cases since I assumed the position,” he said.
Mahdzir thanked those responsible for planning and implementing initiatives to improve the quality of education.
“I’m committed to support the implementation of the blueprint, and I’m confident, through the ministry’s collective effort, we are on track to bring change.”


What It Takes To Get Ahead
By Chtistina Chin
News feature/StarEducate, Sunday 11 March 2018
Mindset matter - Let teacher’ lead - Tech-teaching - Quality counts
Chen says the best outcomes combine both teacher-directed and inquiry-based methods.
Report summary
“Simply understanding the meaning of motivation is more powerful than students directly characterising themselves as motivated. Students cannot exhibit positive behaviours if they do not know what they look like. Interventions to help students plan, monitor, and evaluate their learning may be a promising way to improve student motivation and perseverance”
“The highest scores from teacher-direction in most-to-all classes. Students cannot progress to inquiry-based methods without a strong foundational knowledge gained through teacher-directed learning”.
“Technology tends to be most powerful when used as supplement and support to teaching, rather than as a replacement. Asian educators should work to ensure that ICT is fully integrated with instruction and to support teachers to enable them to use ICT effectively.”

“Good early childhood education can help boost PISA science scores a decade or  more later. The elements of quality early childhood education are a focus on not just cognitive skills and physical and mental health, trained teachers, low staff-to-child ratios; adequate infrastructure; clear learning standards; and positive student-teacher relationships.”
GLOBALLY, 70% of education reform efforts have failed in the last 25 years. Despite an increase in spending, out­comes have either been flat, or declining. The worrying trend has led a consulting firm to publish The Drivers of Student Performance: Insights from Asia’ report recently.
McKinsey & Company partner Li-Kai Chen said the report which focuses on the factors that drive student outcomes, showed consistent findings across the region. The report is unique, he says, because it applies machine learning and advanced analytics to huge data sets from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) which covers over half a million students in 72 countries. Chen speaks to StarEducate on the main high­lights of the report.
Mindsets matter - Student mindset, which is about one’s outlook on life, and how that translates to behaviour, is the most predictive fac­tor of outcomes. It has double the effect of socio-economic background on out­comes, says Chen.
The most critical mindsets are motiva­tion calibration, and growth mindset.
Motivation calibration is about behav­iours that signify motivation. These include always finishing what you start, delivering on your promises, and exceed­ing expectations.
"Motivation calibration is more impactful than intrinsic motivation. If a student says he or she is motivated and wants to be the best, this doesn't neces­sarily drive outcome. It's the student who understands what motivation means in day-to-day behaviour who will get ahead.”
Growth mindset, he adds, is about whether a student believes that hardwork can lead to positive results. It’s about effort and improvement. He feels it’s important to acknowledge hardwork and the journey as opposed to the intrinsic like intelligence and looks.
“As a parent, are you rewarding effort or success? Do we celebrate the best schools or schools that show the most improvement? If a child does well, do you congratulate him for being smart, or for being hardworking?”
In Malaysia’s poor performing schools, having well-calibrated motivation and growth mindset allow students from the lower socio-economic group to outper­form their more privileged counterparts.
“The biggest determinants of student outcome is the mindset of the individual. This means that a child with a strong mindset can outperform a child with a weaker mindset despite coming from a lower socio-economic group.
“It’s very difficult to change the socio-economic conditions of students but if we can change their mindset, they can do really well.”
Unfortunately, most students from the lower socio-economic background don’t believe that if they work harder, things will change for the better, he notes.
The mindset and behaviour of children are very important because that deter­mines how they act, and view life. Why do 60% to 70% of our students feel that working hard won’t make a difference?
Is it because they’ve been constantly told that they’re not intelligent, or that they’re delinquents who would never amount to anything in life? Be careful because those messages stick, he warns.
“An education system that scales up mindset interventions to improve stu­dent outcome will be more successful. And, it doesn’t require huge invest­ments.”
Let teachers lead - The best outcomes, explains Chen, combine both teacher-directed and inquiry-based methods. The teacher-di­rected method means that discussions in class are teacher-led. For example, the teacher demonstrates a science experi­ment. Inquiry-based refers to student-di­rected learning where the students take the initiative and play a more active role - for example, designing an experiment.
If lessons are fully inquiry-based with no teacher-direction, the results will be negative.
“The inquiry-based method is tough because the teacher would have to man­age chaos without stepping in. There needs to be very high quality teaching, prep work, and teacher-training, for that to be successful. If teachers aren’t equipped, this method won’t deliver results. And for students to benefit from inquiry learning, they must have a strong foundation.”
Tech-teaching - With a limited budget, the question of whether to invest in the teacher or stu­dent, is vital. The impact would be great­er if tech investments were made for teachers instead of students.
“Investing, for example, in a computer for the teacher, will have a bigger effect than if you were to give every child a computer,” Chen says, pointing out that technology yields more benefit if it’s in the hands of teachers.
Quality counts - The earlier you start school, the better the outcomes. But this isn’t necessarily true for students from lower economic backgrounds, Chen warns.
It’s not just about access to pre-school and early child care. It’s about quality too.
“In many regions, if you start too early, the outcomes are worse. So the quality of pre-school education is vital. If the educa­tion quality is poor, sending kids early could lead to lower outcome than if you were to send them late.”
It’s not just about getting children into seats, it’s about getting them into quality seats, he stresses.
Factors driving Asian student performance
23% - Mindset: General
18% - Social factors
16% - Teacher factors
15% - Home environment
12% - Student behaviour
9% - Others
8% - Mindset: Subject orientation

Being there in good and bad times
IT was two weddings and a funeral for Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid in his Padang Terap parliamentary constituency.
His original schedule was to attend a wedding reception at Kampung Keda Semeliang at 12.30pm on a Saturday last month.
But in the morning at his Alor Setar home, he received news that a 68-year-old constituent had died. At noon, the politician paid his last respects to the rubber tapper.
This is his routine as Padang Terap MP or when he was assemblyman for Pedu (a seat in his parliamentary constituency that he won in 2004).
When the former Kedah Mentri Besar heard that someone in his constituency had died, he would try to attend the funeral. If he couldn’t, he would send a special officer to represent him.
Mahdzir spent 20 minutes at the funeral in Kampung Bukit Nyamuk about 48km from Alor Setar.
Then in a four-vehicle convoy passing the village he was supposed to attend a kenduri kahwin (wedding feast), he headed to the Padang Terap Umno building in the small town of Kuala Nerang town. There he presented donation to students heading to a boarding school.
At 1.10pm, Mahdzir hastened to the wedding reception he was scheduled to attend...read more>


Restore the ‘National’ in National Schools
The Star/Monday, 8 August 2016
For these schools to be parents’ first choice, there must be a clear distinction between secular and religious educational institutions.
NATIONAL schools are NOT religious schools. They are supposed to provide secular education. As spelled out by the Education Ministry, the philosophy is to develop the “potential of indivi­duals in a holistic and integrated manner” so as to produce Ma­­laysians who are “intellectually, emotionally and physically ba­lanced and harmonious”.
Yet, sadly, in many national schools, “religion” is taking centre stage, undermining the very philosophy that our forefathers carved for those schools.
The trend over the last few decades has been alarming. More and more schools are adopting their own concept of religious awareness among teachers and students. The school heads are turning national schools into their own brand of religious schools.
It is not uncommon to see the recital of the Quran during assemblies. Or religious rites performed at schools. And surau built within their compounds.
But more importantly, the ustaz and ustazah are now the de facto discipline teachers, determining not just dress codes but imposing their own perceptions of right and wrong. They are becoming very influential in the schools, even undermining the power of head teachers or principals.
They are mostly left unchecked by district education officers and the ministry as a whole. Some of them have jaundiced views of the role of sports, music, drama and even extra-curricular activities.

Students are taught about va­­lues that the ustaz and ustazah believe are proper and necessary, and thus the very philosophy of developing balanced individuals is left on the back burner. Every move the students make must adhere to the behavioural construct defined by them…

Read more...
The Sun Daily-Aug 6, 2016
Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid (C) with Umno delegates at the opening of Umno's Setiawangsa division meeting in Kuala ...
Ministry probes teachers accused of raping, molesting students
Malaysiakini (subscription)-17 hours ago
Opinion-The Star Online-7 hours ago
  
KUALA LUMPUR: Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid (pic) has dismissed the possibility of Chinese vernacular schools being turned into mainstream schools in 10 years’ time.
Mahdzir said that although the ratio of non-Chinese students to Chinese students in vernacular schools was higher in some rural areas, in Sabah and Sarawak, the majority of the vernacular schools in the urban areas was still dominated by Chinese students.
“It is unlikely,” he told reporters after launching the Setiawangsa Umno division meeting yesterday.
He said this when commenting on a two-year research conducted by the National Education Advisory Council that revealed the possibility of Chinese schools turning into mainstream ones in 10 years’ time.
Recently, retired council member Prof Dr Teo Kok Seong told a news portal that national schools registered only 4% non-Malay students while the Chinese schools had 18% non-Chinese students.
Mahdzir said a study would be conducted on the findings of the report before any further action was taken on the matter.
He said the ministry was also looking at several other problems faced by Chinese vernacular schools, including the disproportionate ratio of teachers to students.
“We have schools with high number of students, schools with average number of students, and also schools with low number of students. Some schools have only three students with 15 teachers.
“The cost of operating a school is high, considering the wages that have to be paid to the teachers, for maintenance and security for a small number of students,” he said.
In the early years of independence, existing Chinese, Tamil and mission schools accepted government funding and were allowed to retain their medium of instructions on the condition that they adopt the national curriculum.
Chinese secondary schools were given the option of accepting government funding and change into national-type schools or remain Chinese and private without government funding.
Most of the schools accepted the change, although a few rejected the offer and came to be known as Chinese Independent High Schools. Shortly after the change, some of the national-type schools re-established their Chinese independent high school branches.
In the 1970s, in accordance with the national language policy, the Government began to change English-medium primary and secondary national-type schools into Malay-medium national schools.
The language change was made gradually starting from the first year in primary school, then the second year in the following year and so on. The change was completed by the end of 1982.

Malaysia Education Blueprint
Sunday, 14 August 2016
Meeting selected education transformation objectives so far paves the way for Malaysia to raise its standards, and be on par with the best globally.
IT took a lot of effort to bring various parties together, but after countless evaluation sessions over the last three years, results from the First Wave of the Malaysia Education Blueprint that began in 2013 now has a report card of its own.
The Education Ministry released the 2015 annual report of the Blueprint, an ambitious undertaking that will transform the education system in three Waves orGelombang, with the first from 2013 to 2015, the second from 2016 to 2020, and the final one from 2021 to 2025. Within the Blueprint are 11 Shifts or Anjakan that will take the country to where it needs to be nine years from now.
The Blueprint contains 100 initiatives of which 25 came under the Blueprints’s First wave.
In brief, the ministry claimed that it had “surpassed the targets it set for itself” when launching the latest annual report at its headquarters at Putrajaya on Tuesday.
Based on the United Nations Millennium Development Goals to ensure “education for all”, the First Wave aimed to increase student enrolment, reduce the urban-rural divide, and ensure 100% literacy and numeracy (Linus) rates within the first three years of schooling.
Greater inclusivity
On inclusivity, Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid said more students with special needs have been enrolling in national schools.
“The integration of special needs students with mainstream students in daily school activities has been enhanced through the usage of a more holistic and inclusive education model,” he said.
This is done through the Inclusive Education model which saw an increase to 16,899 (23.2%) special needs students in 2015, up from 10,700 (18.4%) students in 2014.
Besides just studying with their mainstream peers in classrooms, students under this model are also included in school events such as the morning assembly and co-curricular activities.
Overall, Mahdzir said the number of special needs students enrolling in schools have increased from 58,006 in 2014 to 72,715 in 2015.
Preschoolers are also not left out of the inclusive education programme…


EDUCATION AND THE DEVELOPING WORLD:
Why Education is Essential For Development?
NST/klassifieds/November 15, 2017
By DR G. VIZAYER RAJ
He is the Founder and President of Malaysian Indian HOPE Foundation.
He can be reached at info@mihf.com.my or 016-2093156
EDUCATION is the cornerstone of every community. It lays the groundwork for the future direction of people's lives and the societies they live in. It is a fundamental human right and essential for the exercise of all other human rights and for social, political, and economic participation.
At the Malaysian Indian Hope Foundation (MIHF); we see education as one of the means to become financially independent and achieve greater success. We believe education is a great insurance policy against financial challenges.
Many disadvantaged individuals in Malaysia are unable to access education due to restricted financial resources. The foundation strives to open the door to a better future for these people, for their own personal growth and the betterment of the community.
We want to improve people's lives, and their ability to participate in society, by understanding the social and economic factors that affect their chances in life. The foundation aims to improve the design and operation of social policy, particularly in education.
The MIHF is committed to empowering young people by supporting efforts to increase access to quality education. From early childhood to higher education, we want to ensure young people from different backgrounds have equal access to education and to promote critical thinking, respect for diverse opinions, and free and open intellectual inquiry.
We want to understand more about the skills and attributes that equip children and young people for life and work in a rapidly changing world, and to develop and evaluate interventions to improve them.
We also seek to improve the quality of teaching and learning across the education system, and to understand more about young people's choices, decisions and pathways at key points in their progression through education and training. Our focus also addresses the various forms of educational disadvantage and vulnerability encountered by children and young people.
MIHF provide opportunities for students, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to develop their skills and confidence.
We believe these skills are essential for people to participate fully in the digital knowledge economy.
Technical and Vocational education and training and skills development, together with basic and adult education are vitally important for building a sustainable future based on youth employment, poverty reduction and social inclusion. Maximising the contributions of skills development to social and economic progress requires that broad vision be developed encompassing a multiplicity of purposes, providers, settings and learners.
Skills development, wherever and however it occurs, must be made visible, appreciated, supported and given due attention in policy and action. At the same time, TVET by itself does not create jobs or alleviate poverty. Decision makers must in place the right policies and conditions to promote equity and reduce poverty.
The foundation intends to support a number of programmes aimed at learning; and developing knowledge and new skills to help underprivileged individuals start a career. The objective being, it allows disadvantaged individuals to increase their knowledge and awareness. They allow the creation of new relationships and a source of inspiration to turn cherished dreams into reality.
In Malaysia we have laws requiring children to attend school and constitutional guarantees on the right to education. We want to make the right to education meaningful and seek to enable and promote quality education for all. Through our programmes, we want to provide people with a HOPE fora brighter tomorrow.
Malaysian Indian Hope Foundation is a non-profit organisation whose aim is to transform the community. The trustees of the foundation set policy and delegate authority to the president and the vice-president to explore opportunities to pursue the foundation's goals, formulate strategies and recommend proposals for funding. The - foundation wants to become a national philanthropy dedicated to the advancement of human welfare and human development. Perhaps most significant, the foundation declared its intention to focus on solving humankind's most pressing problems, whatever they might be to work in a particular field and that is education.
We believe that the best way to meet this challenge is to encourage initiatives by those living and working closest to where problems are located to promote collaboration among the non-profit, government and business sectors and ensure participation by men a n d wome n fro m d ive rse communities and at all levels of society. Experiences have shown such activities help build understanding, enhance excellence, enable people to improve their lives and reinforce their commitment to society.
Financial support will enable lives to be changed. Focus on education needs lot of financial support from companies, private persons, NGOs, and other organisations The foundation is ready to work with them.
We would like to thank everybody in anticipation for your generous support which will help us to realise our goals.
The emphasis of this support is on education.


Showdown in paradise
THE voice over the plane’s intercom welcoming everyone to Langkawi made it sound as though we had landed in paradise.
Well, Langkawi with its many islets and glittering blue seas does look like paradise. The sun seems to shine brighter here and the air feels so pure that it is like watching high-definition TV – the blue skies are bluer and the vegetation is extra green. And the island folk do not put on any airs. They talk and laugh easily and welcome outsiders like old friends...read more>

Not Everything Turned To Gold
THE music seems to have come to a stop at Langkawi’s version of the French Riviera.
There was hardly a soul in sight at this once happening waterfront known as Perdana Quay, although November to March is the peak tourist season.
It was like an episode of Twilight Zone, where things look familiar yet strange and deserted.
Perdana Quay is part of the scenic Telaga Harbour Park on the quieter side of the island. It was designed as a swanky enclave of boutiques, restaurants, spas and bars overlooking a sheltered bay, where the waters are always serene and blue...read more>

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School Bullying
Let’s Tackle Bullying Together
By Myrra Baity
#StandTogether is a bullying prevention campaign jointly organised by R.AGE and SP Setia with the aim of creating an annual National Kindness Week in schools every first week of April.
VICTIM -  Fear, Depression, Aggression
BULLY – Anger, Defiance, Truancy
BYSTANDER - Guilt, Fear, Helplessness
Source: Unicef
WE all know bullying is bad. We are repeatedly told in school that bullying has negative effects on the victims and we should avoid bully­ing behaviour, but do we really understand what that means?
What is bullying behaviour and how does bullying affect not just the victims, but also the bully?
The cases of bullying reported in the news are often extreme cases of physical bullying, as in the death of T.Nhaveen and the case of the Tahfiz fires, but not all forms of bullying are as violent.
Bullying occurs when a student is the target of negative behaviour by a student or group of students, over a period of tirne. This means the victim is repeatedly hurt by their bullies either physically or emotion­ally and this affects them in several ways. Here are some ways bullying affects victims:
It causes them to develop avoidant behaviours. For example, withdrawal from family interactions, unexplained moodies, refusal to discuss or go to school and faking illness to avoid school;
-Causes emotional and physical issues. For example, depression, restless sleep or nightmares, drastic changes in eating patterns; and
-Causes them to “act out”. For example, aggressive behaviour such as bullying other children and carrying a weapon for protection. The effects of bullying are not limited to victims but also extend to the bully and other students who are bystanders. Here are some effects of bullying on the bully:
-More likely to be convicted of a crime in a court of law;
-More likely to engage in the use of substances such as alcohol,
drugs and tobacco; and
-More likely to engage in truan­cy and drop out of school.
Bullying also affects bystanders or those who witness bullying and do not do anything to stop it. The reason bystanders choose to be pas­sive can be because they are scared. Bystanders usually:
-Have nightmares about being the next target;
-Become fearful of going to cer­tain areas of school where bullying takes place; and
-Feel guilty, angry and helpless for not taking action against the bully.
Whenever bullying occurs in schools, it negatively affects all the students, not the just the victim. This is why we all have to come together to prevent bullying from happening in our schools. This is why #StandTogether is making the first week of April each year, National Kindness week. If you are a teacher or a principal, register your school on our website standto- gether. my/register.
If you are a student who has ideas on how to make National Kindness Week in your school even better, join our #StandTogehter Competition. Go to Standtogether. my/competition for more details.

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