NILAI, June 24 — Form Six education in the country should not be too bound by school rules but be given some space even though it is conducted on school grounds, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said.
The Form Six environment needed to be changed as it was really post-school like matriculation as school sessions ended in Form Five.
“I will bring it up with Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek so that Form Six isn’t treated like school, the culture and environment. I agree because I also went to Form Six.
“For Form Six, we need to determine the methods so that the way teachers treat (students) and the environment needs to be given more space so they can be free, to interact, unlike school rules,” he said during an interview session at Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) here today.
He added that many Sixth Formers have complained about the rules and culture and urged for it to be changed during previous dialogue sessions.
On suggestions to change Form Six curriculum to the semester method, Anwar said the matter should be discussed with education experts, as well as teachers and students.
He also urged university leadership to reshuffle new knowledge-based curriculum such as Digital Technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) quickly to suit current changes if Malaysia wanted to be a first-class country.
“It doesn’t need to wait for the Convention Board of Studies, two-year studies, and be brought to the Senate. You can’t. Change has to be quick and fast,” he said, while sharing that world-class universities such as Oxford University, the United Kingdom and Georgetown University, Washington, moved very rapidly in education transformation, based on his teaching experience there.
In addition, he said industrial training was needed so that there was no mismatch and overdependence on old curriculum to reduce unemployment rates.
“That’s why Petronas is now involved in the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programmes in Batu Rakit, Kimanis and Pengerang; Proton has taken over TVET in Pekan and several other big companies have taken over,” he said.
He also said local graduates had extraordinary skills, so the government will ensure the capacity will increase in accordance with industry needs.
Touching on unemployment, Anwar said that there was a drop in the national unemployment rate but that did not mean that the problem has been addressed, especially when it involved graduates.
The prime minister said that investments were needed, along with a strong and stable government with clear policies to create more job opportunities to reduce the pressure of unemployment.
“The way to solve this is that the government needs to find ways to garner investments, for instance, Geely (China’s automotive company — Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co Ltd), which would open up 4,000 jobs.
“According to Geely, we have a skilled workforce, just that there are still some deficiencies. I have discussed with the Higher Education Minister (Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin) to find out what these companies need,” he said, adding that the government had requested that additional training be provided to students during their talks with Khazanah Nasional, Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) and Petronas.
The prime minister also responded to a question by a TVET student on adding more electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, stating that they would be increased when production of EVs rose.
“That’s called energy transition. Petronas will be holding a major international conference this Monday and I will be presenting some main points on our policy regarding energy transition in Malaysia, including EVs,” he said.
He also commended Sarawak for being one of the best states in reacting to digital issues as well as the use of hydrogen technology and EVs. — Bernama
