LECTURE 6

EDUCATION AND TALENT

DEVELOPMENT IN MALAYSIA
EDUCATION AND MANPOWER DEVELOPMENT

Economic growth is subjected to two main constraints.

1. The ability to increase resources, namely, labour, capital, and
natural resources.
◦ E.g., proper education and training will increase the desired
skilled and semi-skilled workers.
◦ Expansion of education opportunities and increasing literacy
among women has also caused the supply of labour to
increase.
2. Applying the appropriate technology, resources could be used
more efficiently.
◦ Appropriate technology could be developed to increase
efficiency in production.
◦ Hence, to overcome the pressure to expand the supply of
labour and to increase efficiency in production, careful
education planning and training programmes are vital to
develop a skilful and trained work force.
EDUCATION AND MANPOWER
DEVELOPMENT
Education is the basic requirement for further training to
produce the desired work force.

Without education it is difficult, if not impossible, to train

the required manpower to fulfil the demand for labour in
the economy.

Based on these rationale, several measures were

implemented through the National Education Policy (also
known as “Dasar Pendidikan Kebangsaan”) and New
Economic Policy (NEP, also known as “Dasar Ekonomi
Baru”).
EDUCATION AND MANPOWER
DEVELOPMENT
National Education Policy
 to develop each child’s potentials to the fullest and to prepare them
to fulfil the manpower needs of the economy.
Measures taken
 Use Bahasa Malaysia as medium of instruction.
 Standardised curriculum.
 Standardised examination.
 Smooth and well managed education system.
 Upgrade the standard of education.
 Provide 9 years of basic education opportunities for everyone.
 Accommodate education opportunities to children of the low
income groups and those residing in rural areas.
 Provide basic skills in reading, writing, and arithmetic at primary
schools,
 Make Bahasa Malaysia and English compulsory subject.
 Etc.
EDUCATION IN 1970S & 1980S
1. Consolidate education system to promote national integration
and unity
• BM as medium of instruction, KBSR (in 83’), KBSM (in 89’)
• Narrowing education gap among races
• Integrating Sabah & Sarawak education system
2. Expand the level of education and training programmes
• Increase primary, secondary & higher level of education
(e.g. Polytechnics, Colleges, Universities)
• Education opportunities towards poor & those residing in
rural areas
3. Improve quality of education towards modern science & tech.
• Labs & science equipment in fully government &
government aided schools.
EDUCATION IN 1990S & TODAY
1. Continue existing education focus/emphasis on pre-school
education
2. School education - Smart schools
3. Private higher education, post graduate studies,
professional certificates.
colleges, twining, foreign degree locally (3+0), etc.
Uniten, MMU, Uni Petronas,
SOME HIGHLIGHTS IN TODAY’S EDUCATION
• Smart School
• Objectives
• To produce a thinking and technology-literate workforce
• To democratise education
• To increase participation of stakeholders
• To provide all-round development of the individual
• To provide opportunities to enhance individual strengths
and abilities
• Vision School
• To promote national solidarity and unity through school
education
• Vision school operates in such a way that puts a Malay school,
a Chinese school and a Tamil school in the same complex, but
these three schools operate independently, except sharing the
canteen and playground in the complex.
• Teaching English in Science and Mathematics
• Commencing 2003.
• The examination paper would be set in bilingual format which
means that students can either answer in English or Bahasa
Malaysia
SOME HIGHLIGHTS IN TODAY’S
EDUCATION
• Issues of pre-school
• Issues of primary education
• KBSR versus KSSR – refer www.moe.gov.my
• Issues of secondary education
• KBSM versus KSSM - refer www.moe.gov.my
• Issues of higher education
• Issues of private higher education
• Universities – global ranking
• Higher education – research & innovation
–contribution towards human capital
development
FIVE ASPIRATIONS FOR THE MALAYSIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM
AND MALAYSIAN STUDENTS

SOURCE: MALAYSIA EDUCATION BLUEPRINT 2013-2025.

ELEVEN SHIFTS TO TRANSFORM THE SYSTEM
CONT….
EMPLOYMENT AND
PRODUCTIVITY OF LABOR
 WORKING AGE POPULATION AND LABOUR FORCE

Working Age Population: It is defined as

those aged 15 – 64, able and likely to
work.
Working Age Population in Malaysia: about
22 million in 2017
Labour force: The sum of employed and
unemployed workers in the economy.
Labor force=14.95 million
Not in the labor force= 7.05 about million
Who are they?
 UNEMPLOYMENT

 Unemployment: a condition where people who can work and

want to work but could not get a job
 Unemployment rate

Number of unemployed
100  Unemployme nt rate
Labor force
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IN MALAYSIA
 FULL EMPLOYMENT

 At 3% unemployment rate, Malaysia is said to have achieve

full employment
 Is that so?
 What about unemployment among the graduates which have
become more common?
PROBLEM WITH YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT

 Youth Unemployment: Labour force age 15 -24 without work

but available for and seeking employment.
 Please read the article ‘ Young and jobless in Malaysia’.
CONSEQUENCES OF YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT

 1 . Stress from social pressure

 2. Financial problem (inability to pay of f study loans and more
debt)
 3. Skill and knowledge become obsolete / outdated
 4. the longer the unemployed period, the more dif ficult it is to
get employment

 UNDEREMPLOYMENT

 Mismatch between career aspiration, skill, expectation of a

person in his/her actual job .
 For example an engineering graduate works as a sales person.
 In Malaysia, underemployment among youth is 15%
 BRAIN DRAIN

 One in every 10 Malaysians with tertiary education migrated

to OECD countries in search for better job opportunities

 Malaysia is losing our bright young talents

 ( S e e E P U a n d Wo r l d B a n k r e p o r t o n B r a i n d r a i n )
 MINIMUM WAGE POLICY

 Malaysia implemented minimum wage policy since 1 January

2014.

 This policy sets a minimum wage of

1 . RM900 per month (RM4.33 per hour) for peninsular Malaysia
and
2. RM800 per month (RM3.85 per hour) for Sabah, Sarawak,
and the Federal Territory of Labuan

In 2016, the minimum wage rate will increase to RM1000 for

Peninsular Malaysia and RM920 for Sabah, Sarawak and the
Federal Territory of Labuan.
 MINIMUM WAGE POLICY

 The proponents of minimum wage see positive impact on

human capital development.

 It promotes businesses move up the value chain by investing

in high technology and enhance production capacity and more
skills training, rather than rely on low -cost foreign labours.

 This will narrow the relative cost between capital and labour.
 Therefore this policy is perceived to undertake productivity -
enhancing measures.

 An increase in the wages of low -wage workers fulfill their

basic needs and ultimately improve the economic welfare and
standard of living.
 MINIMUM WAGE POLICY

 Those who opposed the idea of minimum wage is that workers

should be paid a certain amount of wage rate based on the
worker’s productivity.
 Employers may reduce the number of workers employed if
they have to pay all workers the minimum wage rate.
 A minimum wage could therefore increase the unemployment
rate.

 Do you agree that a wage rate should be based on worker’s

productivity ?
 WAGE AND PRODUCTIVIT Y

 The salary and wage rate in the country experienced a

significant growth following the rapid economic growth by an
average of 6.8 per cent per year for the period of 1995 -2000
(Eighth Malaysia Plan, 2001).

 Labour productivity growth based on sales increased at an

average rate of 10.4 per cent per year for the same period.
LABOUR PRODUCTIVIT Y
LABOUR PRODUCTIVIT Y
GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS REPORT 2018
 GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS REPORT 2018

 Two pillars used to measure the competitiveness of a

country’s human capital.
 Pillar 5: Health
 Pillar 6: Skills

 In 2018, Malaysia ranks 62 and 24 respectively, out of 140

countries for above pillars.
GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS RANKING
 GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS REPORT

Health

Health-adjusted life expectancy (HALE)—the

average number of years a new born can expect to
live in good health.

Healthier individuals have more physical and mental

capabilities, are more productive and creative, and
tend to invest more in education as life expectancy
increases. Healthier children develop into adults with
stronger cognitive abilities.
 GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS REPORT

Skills
The general level of skills of the workforce and the quantity
and quality of education. While the concept of educational
quality is constantly evolving, important quality factors today
include: developing digital literacy, interpersonal skills, and
the ability to think critically and creatively.

Education embeds skills and competencies in the labour

force. Highly educated populations are more productive
because they possess greater collective ability to perform
tasks and transfer knowledge quickly, and create new
knowledge and applications.
 PROBLEMS

 1. Low labour productivity

 2. Inadequate quality workforce
 3. Slower creation of high skilled job
 4. A relatively high youth unemployment
 5. Low female labour force participation
 6. Continued dependency on low skilled foreign workers