Budget that prepares for quality workers

Budget that prepares for quality workers

V.K. Chin, The Star, Asia News Network, Selangor, Malaysia

The 2003 Budget, presented by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad in Parliament last week, was definitely good for the education sector, which received 27 percent of the total allocations or a whopping RM29.6 billion.

This is indeed a fantastic boost to the sector and augurs well for the future of education in the country. This is also in keeping the administration's policy of having an educated workforce that could fit in with the global economy.

To show its determination to introduce the teaching of science and mathematics in English, RM5 billion, from 2002 to 2008, has been set aside for this purpose. Among others, the money will be used for the training of teachers, a launching grant for schools, teaching and educational aids, and to set up the necessary infrastructure to achieve this target.

One significant feature of the allocation for education is that it is a very comprehensive one but with the main objective of upgrading the quality of education and to ensure that the pupils can later form a pool of potential workers with the basic tools to become useful and productive employees.

The interest of both the national schools and higher education has been taken into account. Some interesting proposals have been put forward to help the more backward pupils, both academically and family background, to do well in their studies.

Under this program, RM470 has been allotted per pupil to spend the money on food, textbooks and school uniforms annually. This will include a one-off cash to get them ready for the school term.

Perhaps what is of note is a proposal to provide tuition vouchers for poor pupils to receive extra coaching in subjects they are weak in. Rural children are said to obtain poorer grades because they do not have the means to go for tuition classes, unlike those in the urban areas.

There are also poor people among the urbanites, but generally parents in the middle-income group and above will invariably send their children to tuition classes. This extra exposure has enabled them to do better in examinations. Given same exposure, there is no reason why the poorer pupils cannot perform as well as those who are better off, at least academically.

The government is also keen that hard-working teachers will benefit from the scheme as well as they will be able to conduct tuition classes to earn extra income.

The only concern is that some teachers may abuse this scheme. To gain extra money, some may slack in their teaching and encourage their pupils to attend after-school tuition classes.

So it is important that the education ministry think about this carefully so that this useful program will not be exploited.