In a posting on her FB, Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek said she hope to convince and open the eyes of the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan on women’s right to education and learn from Malaysia where the country have a lot of experience in championing education.
What experience was she referring to when despite the government’s spending on education which are very high compared to the region, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which assesses the knowledge and skills of 15-year-old students in mathematics, reading and science - PISA 2022 Results (Volume I and II) - Country Notes: Malaysia released in Dec 2023, revealed the following:-
- Students in Malaysia scored less than the OECD average in mathematics, reading and science.
- 41% of students in Malaysia attained Level 2 proficiency in mathematics, significantly less than on average across OECD countries of 69%. Over 85% of students in Singapore, Macao (China), Japan, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei and Estonia performed at this level or above.
- Some 1% of students in Malaysia were top performers in mathematics, meaning that they attained Level 5 or 6 in the PISA mathematics test where the OECD average is 9%. 6 Asian countries and economies had the largest shares of students who did so: Singapore (41%), Chinese Taipei (32%), Macao (China) (29%), Hong Kong (China)* (27%), Japan (23%) and Korea (23%). At these levels, students can model complex situations mathematically, and can select, compare and evaluate appropriate problem-solving strategies for dealing with them.
- Almost no students in Malaysia scored at Level 5 or higher in reading (OECD average: 7%).
- In 2022, 24% of students in Malaysia were in schools whose principal reported that the school’s capacity to provide instruction is hindered by a lack of teaching staff (and 22%, by inadequate or poorly qualified teaching staff). In 2018, the corresponding proportions were 7% and 13%.
According to the Education 2030 in Malaysia 5-Year National Progress Report on SDG 4 jointly undertaken by the Ministry of Education and Unicef, the results revealed that,
- More students failed all subjects in SPM examination (at the end of secondary school). While the percentage of candidates achieving all grade ‘A’s has increased slightly during 2016-2020 period, the percentage of candidates failing all taken subjects (achieving all grade ‘G’s) has also increased.
- In the past 20 years, Malaysia’s average score for both Mathematics and Science decreased.
- 30% of UPSR candidates have not achieved the minimum competency.
The symptoms have been evident for some time.
Malaysia’s education system is and has been failing its children.
Yet the denial syndrome continues.
Many of the ordinary rakyat suffered in silence totally disappointed with the lack of priority in tackling the challenges facing primary and secondary school education.
In May 2024, the Education director-general revealed that out of 383,685 newly registered candidates, only 373,525 attended and took at least one subject while a total of 10,160 students who registered for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) 2023 did not sit for the exams.
Comparatively, in 2021, 10,681 or 2.7% of 392,837 registered candidates, did not sit for the exams and in 2022, 14,858 or 3.8% of the 388,832 new candidates who registered did not attend the exams.
No one was held accountable and flimsy reasons were provided.
The ordinary rakyat hopes that moving forward, during the remainder of her term as the Minister of Education, Fadhlina will continue and exhibit her idealistic ideals and lofty dreams in realigning the education system in Malaysia to be on par with the world’s best just like her hope to convince and open the eyes of the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan on women’s right to education.
Was Fadhlina even aware that since the fall of the Taliban in 2001 where the US occupied the country before leaving in 2021,
- Afghan women and girls made substantial progress toward equality,
- They became active in businesses, such as home production of handicrafts, food, and other goods, executives at construction, export, and import companies.
- They held jobs as teachers, professors, administrators, and in healthcare as doctors, nurses, and midwives, journalists, served as army officers and police and as prosecutors and judges.
- They were also active in sports, music, and the arts.
- They fought for and won constitutional equality and held positions as civil servants, ministers and deputy ministers, governors, and Members of Parliament and voted in large numbers.
By 2020,
- More than 3 million girls attended school, about 39% of the total.
- In universities, girls were one in every four students.
- Girls were also able to seek higher education degrees outside Afghanistan.
- The literacy rate had doubled since 2001 for men, to 55%, and tripled for women, to 30%.
- Women’s life expectancy rose from 45 years in 2001 to 65 years by 2020.
- Women were 35% of public school teachers, 27% of government employees, 12% of judges, 10% of attorneys, and 20% of provincial council members. Another 3,300 women were employed in the security sector.
All the above were rolled back to what it was before the occupation by the US in 2001 when the Taliban resumed power and control of the country.
The oppression of Afghan women continues unabated before the eyes of the world.
Severe new restrictions were imposed in Aug 2024 with women not only obliged to cover their faces when they leave the house but also forbidden from raising their voices, singing or reading aloud in public, women were banned from government offices, making it a legal requirement for women to travel only with a husband, or a male relative whom she cannot marry, such as a brother, father, son or uncle, gender-segregating universities and they are banned from studying in secondary schools and universities, making Afghanistan the only country to prohibit females from studying beyond the sixth grade.
According to a report by the United Nations dated 13 August 2024, todate apparently no woman in Afghanistan is in a leadership position anywhere that has influence politically, either at national or provincial levels.
The report also mentioned that when women are engaged in the Taliban’s structures, their roles are largely to monitor compliance of other women with their discriminatory decrees.
If the Taliban had viewed the previous progress made by women and girls positively, they would not have undone and erased it all within 3 years.
They would have allowed it to continued.
Nope. They didn’t do that.
Instead in the last 3 years, through countless decrees, directives and statements, all of which targeted women and girls, the Taliban effectively erased whatever progress made by women and girls in the preceding 20 years.
By the way, did the Director-General of the Afghan education ministry who was leading the delegation, requested for a meeting with the Education Minister during their visit here?
And was there any women amongst the Ministry’s officials that met with the delegation from Afghanistan and if yes, were they attired in accordance to what the government in Afghanistan decreed for their women i.e their faces covered?
And our dear Education Minister is praying that she can convince and open up the eyes of the Taliban government to roll back what they have done in the last 3 years?
We wish her good luck.
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