BY: CHRISTOPHER FERNANDEZ

Several years ago, in a damning verdict, the World Bank released a report which stated that nearly 75 percent of Malaysian school teachers in government run schools ‘should not be in the classroom’.

The World Bank report did not come as a surprise to TMV as there have been numerous complaints not only of the poor and weak standard of teaching but also the behaviour of teachers who usurp their power and authority.

The Education Ministry came out with a feeble defence that Malaysia’s education system is world class and comparable, if not better, than that of Japan and Singapore which was viewed with scorn by leading educationists around the world.

Teachers should be honest with themselves, and they should know if they are really delivering the goods, or doing a semblance of teaching and warming the chair without providing any real assistance to students to succeed.

In another shameful saga, Malay chauvinists and racist Malay rights groups have taken a case right up to the apex court to shut down vernacular schools on the grounds that they do not promote Malay as the national language.

Vernacular schools are reputed to provide a better quality education than other schools and Malaysia’s judiciary is under observation by the international community as to how they deliver their judgement.

-THE MALAYSIA VOICE

** The views expressed on this opinion is of the writer and not the publisher