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COMMUNITY IN REVIEW KARYAWAN Dr Yaacob explained that the decline in performance was not due to the ineffectiveness of the programmes by MMOs but has more to do with efforts to reach out to the wider community, particularly low-income families. He added that a recent report released through CLF showed that Malay/Muslim students who participated in MMOs’ programmes had achieved good results. Going by Dr Yaacob’s argument, the challenge therefore is to get more Malay/Muslim students to attend MMOs’ programmes. Questions, however, remain as to why, in the first place, the programmes failed to draw their participation. Communication efforts should not only be about creating awareness of the programmes; it should also be tailored to factor in perceptions towards programmes of MMOs and their affordability to low-income families whom Dr Yaacob said should be targeted. MMOs will have to act to reassure the community that high standards are maintained for all their education programmes and that students who participated have produced encouraging results. 8 Making an Impact For these programmes to make an impact on educational performance at a national level, the numbers taking them up need to reach a critical mass. A pertinent question, therefore, is whether MMOs have adequate resources and are ready to take in a larger number of students. The effort to cater to a bigger number of students could be a massive one, entailing the need for MMOs to pool their resources and coordinate among themselves by offering programmes that best suit the competencies they acquired through experience. Specialisation would enable them to maximise limited resources. The Trapped Group There is a need to re-examine how educational assistance should be administered. It is inevitable for organisations that are extending assistance to the needy to specify certain basic Questions, however, remain as to why, in the first place, the programmes failed to draw their participation. eligibility criteria for administrative purposes. It is however impossible for such criteria to take into account the differences in expenditure on basic needs, which could result in one family having less to spend on education compared to another. For example, the expenditure on healthcare of one family could be higher than another’s as a result of a member of the family suffering from a chronic illness such as diabetes. In the case of MOE’s Financial Assistance Scheme (MOE FAS), to be eligible, the gross monthly household income must not exceed $1,500 for families with one or two children or $1,800 for those with three or more children. The difference in expenditure on education for one more child could be substantial, especially under the current Ability-Driven Education (ADE) paradigm which emphasises nurturing ability. It is possible for parents with three children, who miss out on assistance because their income is marginally higher than the MOE FAS criterion, to actually have less to spend on education than parents with one child earning $1,500. The median income of the Malays in 2005 is a mere $2,830 – much lower than those for the Chinese ($4,000) and the Indians ($3,730) – and that 21.6% of Malays have a household size of six or more persons. Given this fact, the numbers trapped between not qualifying for assistance and being unable to maintain a reasonable expenditure on education could be significant. MMOs could supplement existing assistance programmes by catering to those who do not meet the eligibility criteria of these programmes. Assistance could be rendered to them by determining the cost of education at a given educational level, looking at how much a prospective applicant has at his or her disposal to spend on education – after deducting expenses on other basic needs from disposable income and topping up the amount needed to meet education expenses. In addition, MMOs could also tap on national schemes, such as the Community Tuition Fee Subsidy Scheme, by beefing up communication efforts to create awareness among the community about the availability of such initiatives. ITE Students The data released by MOE also showed that the number of Malay students admitted to post-secondary institutions has been increasing (Chart B). In fact, the rate at which they are progressing is comparable to other ethnic groups. However, unlike the Chinese and Indians, the majority of Malay students advance to Institute of Technical Education (ITE). © Association of Muslim Professionals. Permission is required for reproduction.
KARYAWAN COMMUNITY IN REVIEW CHART B: Percentage of P1 Cohort Admitted to Post-Secondary Institutions Source: Ministry of Education Press Release (2009). “Performance by Ethnic Group 1999-2008”. In August 2009, Dr Yaacob expressed concern about high dropout rates among Malay ITE students and described it as having reached “worrying levels”. However, in October, Mr Masagos Zulkifli Masagos Mohamad, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education and Home Affairs, said that the attrition rate among students of all ethnicities has declined since several years ago. About 82% of the 2006 cohort completed their course with full certificates while two-thirds of the remaining obtained certificates for finishing at least one module. 9 The performance of Malay students in ITE is especially important because, being the largest in number among Malay post-secondary students, they will be instrumental in influencing the occupational profile of the Malays in the workforce in the immediate future. The educational attainment of Malay workers has not kept up with that of the resident workforce, as comparing Charts C and D show, leaving a high proportion of Malays in lowerskilled occupational categories. Figures from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) show that PMETs (Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians) formed 51% of the workforce in 2008 (Chart E). In contrast, only 21.2% CHART C: Educational Attainment of Resident Labour Force, 1998 and 2008 (As at June) 14.0% 25.8% 10.6% 9.9% 12.3% CHART D: Educational Profile of Resident Working Malays Aged 15 Years & Over 1.8% 3.1% 9.8% 3.0% 4.3% 17.7% 5.1% 7.6% 21.5% 29.2% 14.2% 23.5% 52.4% 53.3% 48.5% 36.2% 24.2% 33.0% 21.7% 17.3% 1998 2008 ■ Below Secondary ■ Secondary ■ Upper Secondary ■ Polytechnic ■ Degree Source: Manpower Research and Statistics Department, Ministry of Manpower 1995 2000 2005 ■ Below Secondary ■ Secondary ■ Upper Secondary ■ Polytechnic ■ Degree Source: General Household Survey 2005, Census of Population 2000 © Association of Muslim Professionals. Permission is required for reproduction.
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