UN special rapporteur visits Malaysia to review present education system
17 May 2010 11:05 pm

special_rapporteur.jpgThe Conference on
Education Malaysia 2010 was held in Kuala Lumpur on 10 May. The event is
an initiative of La Salle Centre, Ipoh which is an established
stakeholder in the Malaysian education landscape.

special_rapporteur.jpgThe Conference on
Education Malaysia 2010 was held in Kuala Lumpur on 10 May. The event is
an initiative of La Salle Centre, Ipoh which is an established
stakeholder in the Malaysian education landscape.

The primary
objective of the Conference was to disseminate the UN
report of the "Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right to
Education, Vernor Muñoz Villalobos Mission To Malaysia" and to use that
report as a means to discuss deeper the challenges which are faced in
the context of the Malaysian education system.

This one day
conference allowed stakeholders to discuss important
matters pertaining to education in Malaysia.

Among the panelists was Professor Tan Sri Dato' Dzulkifli Abdul
Razak ,the Vice-Chancellor of Universiti Sains Malaysia.

The
conference received favorable response from the Education
Ministry, private education entities, school teachers, youth groups,
local state executive members and councilors, and students.

The
one-day education conference seeks to review the challenges of
the present education system, and to look at new and innovative
educational proposals.

BACKGROUND

On 5-14 February
2007, Vernor Muñoz, the United Nation's Special
Rapporteur on the right to education, visited Malaysia to assess the
country's state of education rights, and subsequently produced a report.

The
report will be used as a basis for discussion during the
conference; with the aim of disseminating, examining, and distilling
ideas from the recommendations of the report.

One of the key
issues raised by the report is the acceptability of
the education system, i.e. the good quality and relevance of education,
which in turn must be consistent with the specific cultural features of
each society and with the views of students and, where necessary, of
parents.

In this expect, the report noted that the education
system is
oriented towards economic issues and market demands, and also that
students have little input on decisions concerning them.

The
report also contains many other key issues like enrollment
rates for rural and indigenous communities, curriculum quality, higher
education, language of instruction, and human rights education.

During
the conference, the report was reviewed and examined, while
experienced individuals from the education field shared their knowledge
and insights.

The report served as catalyst to enter critically on
the state of
education  in Malaysia.

While there was much to celebrate over
the successes in this sector
i.e. having one of the highest literacy rates in the developing world,
there are still gaps in terms of real education issues on the ground,
that the conference had hoped to address.