Higher education over-commercialised

 

Higher education too costly

I refer to your report “Education fair a huge success”(Star,Feb21).
Yes, the fair was a great service for our students and their parents for providing the opportunity to scout for the institutions of higher learning to enhance their career. Come beginning of each year parents and students are thrown into confusion of what course and which university to choose. Today there are so many such institutions of higher learning offering so many courses that the confusion becomes even greater.
The sad thing is nowadays our students are not provided career guidance when in schools. The system just encourages excellence in examination only, so much many of our school-leavers are uncertain of what course is suitable for them.
The rapid privatization of our tertiary education, I feel, is disastrous for the future on the nation. Most of the private institutions of higher learning (IPTS) are not fully equipped to conduct the courses that they advertise. This they try to overcome this inadequacy by establishing twinning programs with foreign universities. The phrase “get British degree right in Malaysia” is a familiar advertisement in our papers.
Why can’t our own public universities twin with these private institutions to provide their degrees at an affordable fee?
Today, parents have to come up with huge sums of money to provide decent education for their children. This may go into hundreds of thousands of ringgit and not many parents can afford that. Even pre-university courses have become expensive.
The system of encouraging private universities and colleges has made the once popular local STPM examination irrelevant. STPM is a time-tested and reliable examination which has been there for so long. It is now replaced with the A-level and matriculation examinations which are not only foreign and costly but lower in standards too.
The government should of check the haphazard growth of private universities and colleges. It has the responsibility to ensure that both the public and private institutions provide quality education at an affordable cost. It is the duty of a caring government to all its citizens.
Dr.C.Anthony                                                                                                                                          

 

 

 

Race politics is not the way

Race politics is not the way
It was reassuring to read our prime minister calling on our politicians to “lay off race politics” (Star, Feb 21).
He rightly pointed out that it is an easy but not the proper way to get votes. I hope our politicians from all parties take the call of the prime minister very seriously so as not to jeopardize further whatever national unity that still exists. What we need now is politicians who are national leaders not ethnic and religious champions.
Race politics is the major cause of disunity among the various communities in the country. It is the easiest way to gain support from the masses. It is similar to the “divide and rule” policy of the colonial power that we vigorously condemned.
As long as race based political parties exist it will be impossible to wipe out race politics. It is time to seriously consider replacing our present race-based political parties with multiracial ones, where the interests of all ethnic groups are represented proportionally.
Education is one of the key segments in promoting national unity. Education starts at home and continues into schools. 
Parents and teachers when educating their children should not display prejudices toward other races. They should emphasize on our common identities rather than highlighting our differences. The national schools should embrace all the properties of a truly national school where children of all races are placed under one roof so that they can study and play together from a very early age, not as Malay, Chinese or Indian, but as Malaysian kids.
We yearn for the day when Malaysians will share a single identity in diversity. This will continue to elude us if we fail to act now.    
Dr.Chris  Anthony

                                                                                                                             

 

 

Education not laws is the solution

 

Education not laws is the solution
There has been some suggestions to introduce the “Employment Act” for domestic maids in the country to reduce the incidence of their abuse by the employers. When we look around we see most maids are being treated fairly well and the government must consider carefully before introducing this Act.There are many good employers who treat  their maids like members of the family. With implementation of this law which treats maids as workers in other fields, I am afraid   the maids will be the overall losers.
Most of the Indonesian maids are inexperienced and come from very poor rural family background. Some are ignorant of the use of even basic amenities. The maids are not given any practical training before they are sent to the employer.
To add to their woes, many of them are cheated by agencies which promise them with fantastic monetary benefits. Some of the maids are not even aware that they are being employed as domestic helpers. They are taken by surprise when asked to do routine household chores. This has often resulted in nightmare for the employer.
Despite these shortcomings most employers treat their maids like a member of the family. We provide food, lodging, clothing and personal toiletries. We take care of when sick and allow phone calls back home to their loved ones. When they return home we buy gifts for them and their children.
Apart from these, as employers we provide financial advice and help them  save money to take back home. If not many maids misuse their salary and at time of departure have hardly anything left to take home for their children.
Having said these, I do not dispute there may be employers who would abuse their maids. The reverse, where  the maids abusing their privileges is also equally true.The minority who are bad must be pulled up and punishment meted out.At the same time it is equally important to reward the good employers rather than put legal restrictions on their good deeds towards these unfortunate maids.

By enacting new laws, we may be able to protect these maids on paper,but the abuses would still continue. What is more important is proper education of the maid agencies to be sincere in their recruitment of workers. Adequate training should also be provided for the maids before handing over to the employers. The employers too should be educated to treat them well,if not as members of their own family,then at least as humans.
Dr.Chris Anthony                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Medical schools everywhere, none of calibre

Too many medical schools, none of calibre
 

With the announcement of Kolej Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Selangor (KUIS) to offer medical degrees courses, the total number of medical schools in the country will be 17.
This figure exceeds the number of medical schools in Singapore(1), Canada(16), Ireland(5) and even Australia(11). This figure I’m sure will keep multiplying fast over the years as privatization of our health and education systems continue. The proposed Health Insurance Scheme will further enhance its growth in the name of achieving a developed status by 2020.
In the enthusiasm of increasing the number of doctors very quickly, we have overlooked the two most important prerequisites for the training of doctors. These are adequate experienced qualified teachers who themselves are practicing clinicians and secondly a properly equipped and administered teaching hospital. If one were to closely scrutinize our medical schools, both public and private, none of them will fulfill these 2 important criteria.
As a result we are churning out doctors who are lacking in clinical skills. This was lamented recently by the Director General of Health.
In the private medical schools, the centers are basically run by expatriate lecturers, who are here for a living, least so for the training of our doctors. These schools attract students by awarding degrees from foreign colleges, a program fashionably termed,  twinning.
They do not have their own hospitals and the lecturers are not fully practicing clinicians.  We have medical students who pass out as doctors without proper clinical exposure. It is like football coach teaching to play the game without the players touching the ball.
In the public medical schools, emphasis is just on the lecturers-student ratio and not on the quality or experience of these lecturers. We may have adequate number of lecturers but they are mainly junior and inexperienced. The brain drain has depleted our medical schools of invaluable experienced and dedicated specialists.
Medical training is a stewardship where the student has to be “attached” to his teacher all the time, in the emergency room, in the wards, operation theatre, outpatient clinics and finally during follow-up visit after discharge. He learns to manage the patient by observing and assisting the teacher, who is actively, involved in the management the patient himself. In the process the knowledge, skills and ethics of the profession are transferred to the potential doctor.
Regrettably this form of training, once a standard practice, is not seen in our medical schools these days. Although exorbitant fees are charged but the students do not get their money’s worth in return.
We have many teaching centers with excellent equipment but none of our medical degrees are recognized internationally. What is more distressing is that our authorities are least bothered about international recognition. We want to become a regional centre for medical treatment and training but our standards are in fact declining over the years. In contrast Australia with 11 medical schools and Singapore with just 1 have achieved excellent international status in medical practice and are far ahead of us.
 

Dr.Chris Anthony
 

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Road deaths keep rising – Part 2

Road deaths keep rising – Part 2
The festive season is over,so is Ops Sikap X, and we lost 226 lives on Malaysia’s killing fields,our roads.This is about 20% more than the previous year.The deaths due to accidents involving motocylists was 148 (65.5%),followed by cars ,47 and pedestrians,11.
These figures were release by the the Acting Federal Traffic Chief Asst.Comm.O.K.Jalil Osman.
 Apart from this major catastrophe during festive seasons, there is an ongoing loss many more lives daily on our roads within our cities and towns all over the country. These too mainly involve the motorcyclists.
 Apart from the selfish and inconsiderate attitude of our drivers, the number of vehicles on the road is a main cause of worry. More than 5 million vehicles were the roads during the Ops Sikap X period ,from Jan 23 to Feb 6,2006.
 Over the years the population of cars keep increasing at a rate that whatever roads and highways we built will not be enough to cope with the increase.   We must think of genuine measures to reduce the number of vehicles on our roads if we are really serious in our endeavors to reduce fatality.
Public transport in our cities is in a deplorable state. In fact our bus services are so unreliable and inconvenient. Other than in Kuala Lumpur, intra-city rail services are not available.Inter-city rail services, which were once very popular as it was cheap, save and reliable, seem to have almost closed down totally. Without an efficient public transport system, the traffic situation in all the cities and major towns is chaotic especially during peak hours.  
Another important factor to consider is separate lanes for motor cyclists. The majority of our fatal road accidents involve these poor two-wheelers and as such the government has to seriously plan how to implement the building of separate lanes for motor cyclists
Safe and convenient travel should be basic right for every citizen and it is the duty of the government, the educators, enforcement agencies and all Malaysians to make it a reality.
Dr.Chris Anthony
(Butterworth)