DESPAIRED at the Education Ministry (MOE) wasting taxpayers’ money to send teachers abroad to attend so-called skills upgrading courses, human rights activist and lawyer Siti Kasim has offered herself as a consultant for a faction of the cost.
She further described the tactic of sending government servants overseas in the pretext of studying new methods to improve the existing system as “tantamount to bull*hit”.
“It’s an old trick given past track record shows that top officers who went overseas for courses hardly bring back any useful knowledge … it’s a sheer waste of taxpayers’ money and time,” she berated in a YouTube video.
Siti Kasim was commenting on the RM9 mil allocation by Putrajaya this year to send teachers abroad for leadership and artificial intelligence (AI) courses in countries like Singapore and the US with each course lasting between one and three months.
Education Ministry secretary-general Datuk Ruji Ubi who revealed such plan on Monday (Feb 17) had pointed to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim having repeatedly emphasised the importance of quality access to education which goes beyond infrastructure and curriculum.
This includes improving teachers’ leadership skills which is crucial to develop a more competent, compassionate and caring Madani society.
“If indeed the Madani government is serious, just give me the RM9 mil so I can train your teachers not to wrongly influence, brainwash or indoctrinate school pupils,” she teased.
“After that, I’ll alter the syllabus at government schools … maybe no need RM9 mil but RM2 mil is suffice for me to teach you how to improve the education system in this country.”
Elaborating further, Siti Kasim proposed the following improvement measures:
- Re-looking existing syllabus by reducing religious-related subjects and instead focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects. Religious subjects can be learnt outside school hours with parents taking the initiative to send their kids to religious schools just like in the past.
- Vital need to address the attitude of teachers by assessing the course orientation of would-be teachers at teachers training colleges given many end up behaving like ustazah particularly at national schools.
“If you can change the syllabus, teaching method and mindset, I guarantee you there’s no need to waste taxpayers’ money to send teachers abroad; the solution is simple … just look inside rather than waste money,” asserted the Orang Asli advocate.
“Also if you are serious, please look into transportation access to education for rural Orang Asli school children in Sabah and Sarawak who still have to take boat rides or swim to school which I’ve seen with my own eyes.
“Honestly, I despair at the MOE for being unable to see the real problem as to how they can actually improve the education system in Malaysia.” – Feb 19, 2025
