More difficult to revamp education, Sarawak told

In welcoming the devolution of federal autonomy on health and education matters to Sarawak, political scientist James Chin said that Kuching would be having a more difficult task in revamping the education system.

“I hope GPS has the appropriate people managing both education and health. It can serve as a model for Sabah and other states if executed correctly, said the professor who is based in University of Tasmania.

“Based on my own experience, I can tell you that revamping education is the most difficult task because of how bad teachers are presently in Malaysia,” he said on X, this morning.

GPS is the ruling coalition in Sarawak, led by PBB.

Chin said this in response to the announcement of Sarawak Deputy Premier Datuk Dr Sim Hui Hian that the negotiations to devolve health and education to Kuching would begin next week.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad would be meeting Sim.

Sim said the negotiations would focus on the implementation since the agreement has already been inked by the federal government and Kuching.

The devolution of the sectors is part of the Malaysia Agreement signed in 1963.

Chin blamed the intrusion of politics in education as a reason for the drop in education standards.

“Malaysia had excellent educators until the late 1970s, but beginning in the 1980s politics begin to interfere.

Chin pointed out that the current education system dedicated more time to religion and the evidence can be seen in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) achieved by Malaysia.