Dissecting the Malaysian Education Blueprint — Introduction to the MEB

The MYER team brings you an in-depth, thoroughly researched analysis of the Malaysian Education Blueprint.

The day was September 6, 2013, when then-Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin launched what is known as the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013–2025. It was described as the most comprehensive and biggest manifestation of the government’s efforts to make the most out of the nation’s talents through education.

The approximately 300-page long document (or more accurately, presentation), which is available for public viewing online, speaks of plans, problems and aspirations for the education system, among many other things.

As integral as it is to the country’s development, merely reading it can be a chore given its whooping page-length and often verbose style. We at MYER recognise the importance of first providing the public with the information needed to understand the current status of our education; only then can we come together to find a solution to help make the system work for all of us.

We at MYER took it upon ourselves to delve deep into the Malaysian Education Blueprint (MEB), extracting its key points and explaining them in layman terms. We will also evaluate how far the MEB has come by looking at the current situation in our schools. Lastly, we will provide our suggestions on how the MEB can be better.

But first, an introduction to the MEB.

What is the MEB?

The Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013–2015, as its name implies, is a charter for the Malaysian Education System through 2013 to 2015. It was introduced in 2013, the same year the Ministry of Education (MOE) and Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) were merged under one entity named Ministry of Education Malaysia (or Kementiaran Pendidikan Malaysia).

A result of discussions that involved more than 10,500 individuals including international education experts, leaders of Malaysian Higher Learning Institutions and members of the public, the blueprint details a five system aspirations (more on this later) and six student characters to be achieved by the year 2025. It also lists down measures for all levels of schooling, from preschool to post-secondary level.

Studies conducted by the World Bank, UNESCO and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) were heavily referenced to guide the writing of the MEB, resulting in a rather significant trend where we see the local education system compared to that of international standards. Indeed, many of the objectives in its subsections are aiming for “top-in-the-world” status.

A bulk of chapters in the MEB are written in a uniform format. It begins by outlining the current performance and challenges of a certain aspect of Malaysian education, then moves on to introduce a vision and aspirations for it. In the end, it outlines how changes or improvements will be made in stages, which the blueprint terms as “waves”.

Since its introduction, the MEB has formed the basis of many important decisions made by the ministry, all with accomplishing its key goals kept in mind. Examples of transformations that took place include launching a curriculum for secondary schools, revising the primary school curriculum and pushing for e-learning. Given the crucial role MEB plays, the need to scrutinise it to see if future generations will truly benefit from it cannot be understated.

Aims of the MEB

The MEB is very ambitious, to say the least, which is probably due in part to its equally ambitious aim to be a blueprint to “equip Malaysia for the final leg of its journey towards a high-income nation”, as written in its Executive Summary.

The MEB denotes five “Vision and Aspirations”, which will from here on be referred to as “pillars” as they are what the Education Ministry keeps in mind when introducing changes. They are:

1. Accessibility: Malaysia aims to achieve 100% enrolment across all levels from preschools to upper secondary (Form 5) by 2020
2. Quality: Malaysia aims to be in the top third of countries in international assessments such as PISA and TIMSS in 15 years
3. Equity: Malaysia aims to see a 50% reduction in achievement gaps (urban-rural, socio-economic and gender) by 2020
4. Unity: Malaysia aims to have an education system that gives children shared values and experiences by embracing diversity
5. Efficiency: Malaysia aims to have a system which maximises students outcomes within the current budget

As if the above goals are not ambitious enough, the Education Ministry also wishes to ingrain six key values among students after their studies:

1. Knowledge: All students are fully literate and numerate at the minimum. They will also be motivated to develop their knowledge and skills in other areas
2. Thinking Skills: All students can master a range of important cognitive skills
3. Leadership Skills: Students will be taught to take up leadership positions, formally and informally, and be ready to work effectively with others
4. Bilingual Proficiency: All students will be operationally proficient in the Malay and English language, as well as being encouraged to take up additional languages
5. Ethics and Spirituality: Students will be instilled with ethics and spiritual values for the future so that they will be rational and courageous in conflicts
6. National Identity: All students will identify with a Malaysian identity that adheres to the Rukun Negara, irrespective of ethnicity, religion or socio-economic status

Note: only the gist of each aspiration/value is listed here, they will be further expounded on in later articles.

In essence, the five aspirations and six values listed above present a huge what-if scenario; it narrates the best possible form of any country’s education system and also its most ideal outcome. The vision is a grandiose one, and the MEB seems to suggest that the Malaysian government is keen on achieving that.

What’s next?

Many of you may have lingering questions on the MEB: How does the Education Ministry aim to achieve the above? What is the progress of fully achieving these goals? Is it even achievable?

The team at MYER has spent the last month scrutinising the MEB in search of the answers to these questions, which we will present in the coming weeks. Our 5-part series analysis will comprise how each pillar is measured in the MEB, what is the progress on it and ultimately what we think of it. Stay tuned.