How Politics Is Behind Malaysia’s Education Reform Difficulties | Insight | Full Episode

Malaysian Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, has said that his country “cannot be in denial" about the state of its education system. He made this comment after Malaysia's PISA score, an international student assessment, tumbled far more than its Southeast Asian counterparts.

PM Anwar highlighted the urgent need for education reform, pointing to country's lack of STEM graduates. He also wants students to improve in the English language. But tackling education reform in Malaysia is complex, intertwined with language, religion and racial identity. Is Malaysia's education system failing? And what can be done to lift its grade?

00:00 Introduction
01:07 Why education reform became a hot topic in Malaysia
05:17 What happened to the 2013 education reform programme?
09:36 Students from disadvantaged backgrounds left behind
11:50 What are vernacular schools and why are they rising in popularity?
17:05 Have Malay medium schools lost their appeal because of religion?
22:26 Inconsistent language policy on students
24:43 Public vs private schools
26:59 Sarawak implements its own educational reforms
30:28 Confusion over the dual language policy (DLP)
32:50 Frequently changing the language of instruction hurts learning
36:04 Lack of access to preschool education and its impact
41:30 Are the teachers at fault?
44:09 What can the government do to change education?

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