KL to boost science in schools

KL to boost science in schools

By David Chew

SINGAPORE (JP): Malaysia has the abundant natural resources,
the requisite manpower and the good connections to become a
developed nation within the next 20 years as envisaged by its
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Despite these advantages, however, top government officials
fear that Dr. Mahathir's "Vision 2020" may continue to be an
empty agenda so long as Malay secondary students lack interest in
science and mathematics.

Unless this major attitudinal problem is tackled effectively,
there would be no catalyst to transform the resources and
connections into meaningful use as required by "Vision 2020", the
officials conclude.

At numerous forums nationwide, Dr. Mahathir has stressed the
importance of highly-trained manpower for the success of his
"Vision 2020". He stressed the need for more scientists,
engineers, doctors, architects and other professionals.

They would form the vanguard of the project 600,000 skilled
and semi-skilled people required up to the year 2000 to sustain
the momentum of Malaysia's high economic growth rate. A rate that
would increasingly be engineered by capital intensive industries.

Schools will provide the source for this trained manpower. To
nurture it, the Malaysian government last year spent M$2.023
billion (roughly US$ 792 million), or about 20 percent of the
national budget, to install new science laboratories, technical
workshops and the latest sophisticated tools and machinery in
schools. The amount was increased to M$2.111 billion this year.

So important is science and technology to the Malaysian
government, that it wants 60 percent of secondary school students
to study science and mathematics.

The government also plans to double the intake of medical
students at local universities in a bid to meet the target of
33,500 doctors by the year 2020, according to Education Minister
Najib Tun Razak. At the end of last year, official statistics
revealed that there were only 9,504 registered doctors in
Malaysia.

Top officials are worried that the Malaysian government's
efforts to encourage the wider study of science and mathematics
in secondary schools, particularly in the fourth and fifth forms,
may be futile if Malay students continue to show a lack of
interest in these subjects.

Secondary schooling is the middle level in Malaysia's three-
tier education system, comprised of six years of primary
schooling, five years of secondary schooling and two years of
pre-university. Students then proceed to tertiary studies either
at the university or college level.

Unless secondary students begin embracing science, there will
not be the requisite numbers to take up science and mathematical
subjects at the tertiary level.

Deputy Education Minister Dr. Fong Chan Onn earlier this month
expressed the government's concern over this matter when he
disclosed that only 20 percent of the total number of fourth and
fifth form students opted to study pure science. His ideal figure
is 60 percent.

He blamed the declining trend, which was first detected in the
late 1980s, on the perception among many students that science is
more difficult to study than arts subjects.

Top government officials like Dr. Fong believe that the mental
block many students face in their approach toward science and
mathematics can be overcome. They have warned that unless the
students change their negative attitude, Malaysia may not have
the highly-trained workforce to man the facilities and resources
required to achieve "Vision 2020".

While a change in the students' attitudes may seem a panacea,
it is by no means the solution to a problem that inevitably
spills over to Malaysia's delicate race-based politics.

Malays and other bumiputra (indigenous peoples) make up 60
percent of Malaysia's multiracial population of 19 million. The
Chinese account for 30 percent and Indians the remaining 10
percent.

Ideally, the politically-dominant Malays and bumiputra should
respond to the government's study plea. It is this group that Dr.
Mahathir has targeted as the driving force to achieve the aims of
"Vision 2020" -- the Malaysian government's success in
affirmative action is well represented in the nation's wealthy
and professional class.

The majority of secondary school students who have no interest
in science and mathematics happen to be Malays and bumiputra.
They prefer to study the arts, Islamic studies and other social
sciences which still offer them jobs, especially within the
government, after graduating from university.

By comparison, Chinese students are more inclined to study
science. Part of this explanation lies in the fact that urban
schools have better science facilities and mathematics teachers
than rural schools. The Chinese form the majority of students in
urban schools.

Even if many secondary students heed the call to study science
and mathematics, the government still faces a problem if more of
them are Chinese and fewer of them are Malays.

Since the success of its affirmative action policies, the
government has greatly relaxed its pro-bumiputra politics because
Dr. Mahathir believes that Malays are now in a position to
compete with the other ethnic groups on equal terms.

Other prominent Malay leaders are not so sure, and have warned
of the political dangers of the headlong drive into meritocracy.
They say this is likely to lead to more Chinese students opting
for science and mathematics at university.

Former deputy prime minister Musa Hitam noted in August last
year that despite the success of affirmative action, the Malays
might still not be psychologically ready to the government
recruiting skilled manpower based strictly on merit. He disclosed
that between 1983 and 1993, less than half of the Malay students
in secondary schools scored good results in science and
mathematics.

This was despite Malay students having all the advantages and
good educational facilities.

"This situation has been consistent every year -- and
obviously something needs to be done to change it," he said in
his address to a forum of Malay Students in Shah Alam, the
capital of the state of Selangor.

Musa, presently the United Nations Human Rights Panel
Chairman, fears that unbridled meritocracy will place the Malays
behind the Chinese in science and mathematics, their position
before the New Economic Policy was introduced.

"This does not mean that Vision 2020 will not succeed, but its
success will be meaningless if there is no place in it for the
Malays," he said.

Dr. Mahathir, Anwar and other top UMNO leaders certainly have
a delicate balancing act to perform in encouraging more Malay
students take up science and mathematics without depriving others
of their opportunity to study these subjects.

In encouraging more Malay students to study science and
mathematics, the government must ensure that its present high
standard is maintained.

The writer is a freelance journalist based in Singapore.

Window: The majority of secondary school students who have no
interest in science and mathematics happen to be Malays and bumiputra.