Asia's new hub for international education
Discovery Reports - Malaysian Education
Banking on its human capital to drive the country into a progressive future, Malaysia is reforming its education system to train people to cope with the demands of a global economy and maximise their potential to make a difference within and beyond Malaysia.
Raising educational standards is Malaysia's way of fulfilling its potential to become a pivotal hub in the global education network. The heart of the many programmes in the education sector is to raise awareness about educational opportunities in Malaysia.
Educational reform is a two-pronged strategy for Malaysia. While it aims to deliver upskilling and human capital development, educational reform is also a platform for attracting business. The projected gross national income (GNI) for the educational sector is expected to reach 61.6 billion ringgit (HK$153 billion) by 2020.
"Education is an important enabler because, without it, we will not have the right skill sets to meet the demands of the industries under the various NKEAs," says Azian Shahriman, PEMANDU's NKEA director of education.
Historically, education in Malaysia has been largely funded by the government. The Ministry of Education (MoE) runs approximately 10,000 schools, with enrolment of approximately five million students. As the country transforms into a high-income nation, there needs to be a shift towards private sector funding to maintain high standards.
"The government recognises that the country can no longer rely on traditional resource-based sectors and looks at the services sector to drive earnings," Shahriman says. "Over the next eight years, we would like to see the private sector contributing at least half of the GNI for the education sector by 2020, with the other half from the public sector."
One EPP under the education sector is building up early child care and education centres (ECCE). Through various initiatives, such as providing financial assistance to low-income families, the MoE aims to increase pre-school enrolment from 67 per cent in 2009 to 87 per cent this year.
