MALAYSIA EDUCATION BLUEPRINT: Essential to reward excellence to woo top graduates
IT is heartening to note that the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2015 aims to "move our students from the bottom one-third to the top one-third in the world".
This is indeed an acknowledgement that our students are languishing at the "bottom one-third" in the world.
It does take courage to admit shortcomings. And what better way to start off than to recruit teachers from the "top 30 per cent of graduates" from next year.
Again, the admission that our present teachers (by implication) are not from among the top 30 per cent of graduates is another bold "confession", albeit a little demoralising to those teachers who are actually the crème de la crème of their time.
There are, among the crop of current teachers, first-class honours, second-class upper and even Dean's List holders.
These are the teachers, presumably, who have contributed tremendously to great student performances, according to a study on the impact of teacher quality on student performance.
In order not to demoralise these teachers, the ministry must compile a list of such teachers and reward them. This will serve as a catalyst to woo top graduates to the profession.
The ministry must reward teachers who have taken the initiative to upgrade themselves and acquired postgraduate degrees, attended conferences, presented papers and conducted research.
Lim Seng Leong, Penang