many parents like me often raise our arms in anguish over the education system in malaysia. although not very common place, i'd venture to say that many urban parents feel that the current public education system in the country is not designed to produce youths who can create value for our future.

consider the workplace: how many employers would generally prefer recruiting graduates from overseas as opposed to local grads? what are the average chances of being hired if you are a local grad versus an overseas grad?

fluency in english is only one aspect of the capabilities sought here. more importantly, employers seek graduates who have the the confidence to speak, and possess clear mental thought processes when faced with unusual issues, or problems.

much of the blame for the lack of competitiveness of our local graduates lays squarely at our local education system.

this is why those who can afford it, will likely send their kids to private schools.

but what about the rest of us who cannot afford to do so for all our children?

this is our anguish.

we send our children to day school, and send them to night tuition to provide additional insights into the subjects that were supposed to have been taught in school.

yet, when faced with issues, problems our children are not able to mentally process them and would finally ask if there are any model answers.

with the country needing to transform its economic model into one based on knowledge; the trends in our education outputs are most worrying to say the least.

this is why we need to band together to drive a fundamental transformation of our education system. we need to empower our children with the intellectual, emotional and spiritual capability to meet the challenging demands of their futures.

we need to de-politicise the education system and do what is right for a sustainable future of innovation, value creation via a world class competitive human capital pool.

the new education model shall focus on aspirations, openness, cooperation, adaptability, diversity, empowerment, experimentation, and possibilities. The model should not focus too much on academics but must encourage children to research such topics by their own motivation or based on their own personal aspiration.

the model should encompass the primary and secondary levels at the very least, and perhaps the pre-schoolers. the model will need to empower teachers and students in designing what is best to ensure the future competitiveness of our children.

this model must also be free (or close to free), so that it can reach a wider group of youngsters.

in order to run a model that is free we need to rely on support, contribution and donations. this is why this model should be driven from a compelling cause. i would suggest we look closely at KIPP - knowledge is power program, and the Aravind Eye Hospital which provides free medical to underprivileged people in India (more references, here).

the model must be based on the need to serve our children in meeting their challenges in the future. i believe that there are enough people and organisations out there who are passionate enough to help make this a success.

what do you think about this? can we work something out? i can set up a cause on facebook and twitter etc to build support. please drop your comments on this website. thank you in advance.