As far back as 1988, the then-Education Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced that computer skills and programming would be part of the country’s curriculum by 1990. It was the period where the Internet had yet to exist and now-obsolete 5.25 inch floppy disk with a capacity of only 1.2-Megabyte ruled the land. Anyone with knowledge of Microsoft Word and Excel was considered a genius.
The IT (information technology or computer science) industry and education sector were absolutely excited. Parents who could afford would splash hard-earned money for their children to learn Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Teachers were supposed to be trained, but very few got the opportunity. The education ministry’s ambitious plan was merely hot air.
About 10 years later in 1998, corporate email systems would use a dial-up modem to receive and send emails at speed of a mind-boggling 9.6 Kbit/s (that’s kilobit per second). But Anwar’s computer programming policy never materialised. The best thing that ever happened to school was the 1BestariNet project, which the Malaysian government launched in 2012.
Laptops for every child and Internet connectivity for every one of the nation’s 10,000 schools were promised. The project was awarded to YTL and the government had splashed RM248 million for the purchase of 116,399 units of Chromebooks. YTL laughed all the way to the bank when they charged RM2,130 for each Chromebook when the retail price was merely RM999 a pop.
On average, each of the 10,000 schools was supposed to get 10 Chromebooks. But there were none. Somebody had quietly stolen the laptops. The 1BestariNet project also included the use of the “Frog Virtual Learning Environment (Frog VLE)” for teachers, students and even their parents. Until today, students continue to be tortured with the Frog’s performance.
Last month, YTL claimed it has invested more than RM4 billion in building up the infrastructure in schools for a 15-year project for the Frog VLE. However, the fact remains that the architecture of the virtual learning system was so inferior that both its connectivity and contents are like 20 years ago. The contents are merely quiz and assignments.
In 2016, four years after the rip-off 1BestariNet project was introduced, Malaysian students and schools were shocked again with another piece of news that computer coding would be added to the syllabuses of national schools – scheduled to start in 2017, almost 30 years since Anwar Ibrahim told all and sundry about the same idea.
In line with the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025, the then Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) CEO Yasmin Mahmood proudly announced – “We will be launching this thing called the digital maker movement next month, where coding is embedded as an official curriculum in schools, starting from standard three onwards.”
As expected, the year 2017 came and went and the sexy policy of MDEC, supposedly the national ICT custodian, too had quietly been abandoned. Today, even after the previous corrupt and the incompetent Barisan Nasional government has been toppled, there is no sight of any basic computer programming or coding that would finally be introduced.
Instead, Mr. Maszlee Malik, the first education minister under the new government of Pakatan Harapan, has shown great interest in black shoes and “Khat Jawi” writing as a formula to leapfrog students’ performance to the next level. Yes, more than 30 years since Anwar proposed computer programming to move forward, Maszlee has taken two steps backward.
Apple’s legendary Steve Jobs famously said in 2012 – “Everybody should learn to program a computer, because it teaches you how to think.” A single and simple line of code – “print (‘Hello, world!’)” – can actually teach a child to see more meaning and develop their critical thinking skills than wearing a pair of black shoes or writing Arabic “Khat Jawi” in school.
Of course, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad can choose to continue protecting his boy Maszlee as the clueless education minister plays his silly toys. But the world does not revolve around Malaysia. As the country’s education system continues to be politicised, neighbouring countries once laughed at by Malaysia for their backwardness is progressing at stunning speed.
Last month (July), Singapore government announced that all upper primary students (Primary 4 to 6) will attend compulsory coding enrichment classes from next year onwards. Called “Code for Fun”, the 10-hour programme will actually start at some schools later this year – with Primary 6 students going for lessons after the Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE).
The programme, with an objective to expose students to basic computer coding, was piloted in 2014 as an optional enrichment programme for primary and secondary school students to learn computational thinking, coding concepts and problem-based learning, not to mention emerging technologies such as AI (artificial intelligence) to help Singaporeans in the digital transformation journey.
But Singapore, Malaysia’s closest neighbour, isn’t the only country in Southeast Asia that is extremely eager to produce students who could pick up problem-solving skills and learn how to think and come up with “logical and thorough” solutions. As far back as 2013, Vietnam’s prowess in computer programming had shocked the world.
It was reported that Google engineer Neil Fraser was surprised when he visited Vietnam to see how schools there teach ICT, only to discover that kids in the 11th grade are capable of passing the Chocolate Factory’s notoriously difficult interview process. In Vietnam, computer classes start in Grade 2 (age 7-8) where they learn the basics such as how to take care of floppy disks.
By grade 3 (age 8-9), Vietnamese students learn how to use Microsoft Windows XP. And by grade 4 (age 9-10), they would start programming in Logo with a sequence of commands follows by loops. They would start writing procedures containing loops calling procedures which contain loops by Grade 5 (age 10-11). So, what’s the big deal here?
It’s a big deal because by comparison, at San Francisco’s magnet school for science and technology (Galileo Academy) 11th and 12th grade students would struggle with HTML’s image tag, while loops and conditionals were “poorly understood”. Now do you understand why Vietnam has produced the most top programmers in the region, if not the world?
Back in 2014, we published (read here) how incubators in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City successfully produced at least 10 startups with over 1-million users, delivering a humiliation to Malaysia whose Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) was once an admiration in the 1990s. Even renowned Singapore-based tech startups such as Grab, Garena, HonestBee have been recruiting engineers from Vietnam to work in Singapore.
In spite of the U.S. being the hub of technology and Malaysia being the pioneer of the so-called MSC, Vietnamese kids clearly possess more technology knowledge. Vietnamese students might be so poor that they had to burn CD due to lack of educational software, but their passion and exposure to computer coding allows the country to produce 40,000 graduates in computer programming every year.
But being poor isn’t an excuse not to excel in the “STEM fields” – science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Early in 2018, a global movement of computer programming for children – “Hour-of-Code” – was introduced by the Myanmar STEM Education Association (MSEA) at the Practicing High School of Yangon University of Education in Kamayut township of Yangon.
It was the first STEM programme for students of government schools in Myanmar. The school, which is Myanmar’s largest, has 7,200 students, of which 380 students joined the event. Headmaster Dr Moe Thu said – “Computer programming is a part of STEM. That’s why I try to introduce this kind of special training for my students, even though we cannot have the whole curriculum for STEM.”
Apparently, Dr Moe Thu was inspired to make the training of computer programming for children when she attended a competition event of ASEAN students for STEM in Vietnam in 2017. The biggest challenge, however, was the language barrier for Burmese-speaking children. But the teachers were more than willing to explain the coding vocabulary to the students.
So, don’t be surprised when Vietnam, and even Myanmar, become more progress and developed than Malaysia one day. It’s not an exaggeration to say that Vietnam is already on its way to become the next IT hub, at least in the region, if not Asia or the world. And don’t be surprised if Malaysia ends up becoming the hub for a different business – exporting maids to neighbouring countries.
It’s quite hilarious when PM Mahathir Mohamad, after calling Malaysians to learn from the Japanese and the mainland Chinese, has recently urged young people to go to Turkey and find work there for 10 years so that they can help develop Malaysia on their return. Does Malaysians really need to go as far as Japan, China or Turkey to learn the basic formula of success?
The 94-year-old premier can easily learn from neighbouring Vietnamese and Burmese about the values of hardworking and their thirst for knowledge. Perhaps he should send Education Minister Maszlee to Vietnam to find out the reasons the nation emerges as a computer coding powerhouse. But Mr. Maszlee should not be surprised to find out that writing Khat or Jawi is not one of them.
Other Articles That May Interest You …
- Shoe Minister Maszlee Should Expose Students To Writing Computer Programs, Not Khat Writing
- Here’s Why Former “Iron Lady” Rafidah Should Be Appointed As First Woman Higher Education Minister
- Obsolete Education System & Racial Politics – Reasons Malaysia Will Miss Major Spoils Of US-China Trade War
- PTPTN Student Loan Crisis – A Result Of Excessive Politicking, Racism Policies & Inferior Education System
- Global University Employability Ranking 2018 – Only Singapore & Japan In Top-10 Among Asia’s Best Uni
- Mahathir Has Spoken (Again) – Malays Are Lazy & Untrustworthy, Banks No Longer Trust Them
- Only Extremist & Racist Would Feel Inferior And Lack Of Confidence Over UEC Recognition
- Bring Back DOS-Games Childhood Memory – Here’s How To Play For Free
- Flashback To 1994 – 15 Unforgettable Memories About Past Technology
- Errr … MSC What? Here’re 10 Vietnam Start-Ups With Over 1 Million Users
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August 7th, 2019 by financetwitter
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Comments
please help sign my petition too and letter to school principal!!
SAY NO TO FORCE LEARNING OF JAWI/KHAT OR ANY ARABIC LANGUAGE ACROSS ALL MALAYSIA SCHOOLS
You hit the nail on the head. But it is expected.
That is what happens when old froggies who does not see the future are appointed to do the job.
Hopefully, with the 7 million new voters in GE15, things will change for the future as the old froggies will be beholden to these new voters and finally realize to cater for their wants and needs instead of pandering to the old froggies voters.
I don’t understand the point of this stupid article. It’s based on a stupid black and white mentality. You can argue that Malaysian education system needs programming classes, you don’t need ti bash the inclusion of Jawi and khat. If your children were so smart to learn programming, they should be able to learn khat.
Didn’t Steve Jobs study calligraphy and inspired him to put fonts in the Macintosh?
Malaysia is falling behind but our politicians doesn’t seem to know how to govern without making everything about race or religion. Everything is narrated as between us and them and the ‘Arabisation’ that pervades our REAL malay identity is certainly not helping.
Schools are just another avenue like all ministries to enrich oneself and their cronies and the dumbing of our citizens keeps on happening! Education is not on the agenda for these people, economy is not in the agenda, security is not on the agenda. It’s easier to control and maintain their political power by the divide and rule system that has been honed to perfection through decades of practice!
Already we can see the rot everywhere we look! Our once sterling public service the envy of the world has deteriorated to not even a shadow of what it once was. It’s so frustrating and this idiot Maszlee really is unqualified and that’s clear for all to see! But the buck stops with Tun M and his legacy will be ruined when history is written on his term in office this time around.
And throughout all this our children are the ones that will lose!!!
Spot on!
As one who has written about Malaysia’s IC scene since September 1994, I have come across so many announcements and launches of “sexy” ICT projects and initiatives by the likes of the then Multimedia Development Corporation – now Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation as well as others and have seen many of them turn out to be just hot air.
In November 2012, I covered the spectacular media event by YTL Communications and Frog Asia to announce its win of the 1Bestarinet contract and have since seen its disappointing effectiveness.
“Teachers’ union says 1BestariNet useless for online learning from
home”
http://itsheiss.blogspot.com/2015/10/teachers-union-says-1bestarinet-us
eless.html
One problem though with the teaching of coding in Malaysian schools:—
I recently visited my old school, a prominent school in the town, and learned that their ICT computer lab faced a problem of a shortage of working computers for students to use and some students had to use their own notebook PCs.
So how lah, can students learn coding, AI and so forth without enough working facilities?
Malaysian mostly lack the will to be better through honorable and respectable means. Eg. When the minority wants to exercise their their will to excel through education, the majority tries every dirty tricks to sabotage. Even resorting to accusing the minority as foreigners, communists, chavanistic, unpatriotic, infidel, racist or just plain disrespectful. Since M’sia being a democracy, the majority wins and the minority has to put up or shut up.
Dude….there is “Sains Komputer” subject for
SPM. Involves programming and all
There is also “ICT” subject for SPM.
Only in selected schools..