The issue with the Malaysian education system, AND the SOLUTION

For those who know me, I've just started my own business.
It's retail, so the job will be labor intensive.
My ex-boss, Tan Sri Gnanalingam, recently wrote an article in the NST about how we should place more local workers in our local businesses, fairly and equitably.
I have the highest respect for this man, and I totally agree with his views.

So, I have placed utmost priority on hiring local Malaysians.

First snag, the communication skills.

I was schooled in King Edward VII in Taiping. For the boys who went there, they will tell you that's the best school they could have possibly gone to.
We were taught to speak and write well in BM and English, and we were also encouraged to take up sports such as rugby and football, hence KE's reputation as a sports school.

I do not know what has transpired in the past 15 years since I left school, but I believe the standard of education in our country is possibly down in the dumps.

I hired recent school leavers with a take home pay that is decent.
However, they cannot speak a word of English. That's fine. I don't expect Shakespeare lovers to be salespersons in my business.

But, are you telling me that it's ok for them to go through life without knowing an international language, especially English?

Let's just start at BM. They cannot even write in BAHASA MALAYSIA with proper grammar when they're filling up the job application forms.

What are we doing for the education of the next generation Malaysians?

Imagine my surprise when a 49 year old man came looking for work.

Spoke to me in good English.

I asked him, why is it that you haven't had a job in 6 months?
He answered that at his age, no one wants to take a person who can only work another 5-6 more years before retiring. But that's a story for the next post.

I said, I don't care about creed, colour or even age.

All I want is a worker who's HONEST, HARD-WORKING and with GOOD MANNERS.

He had all of the above.

I hired him on the spot.

After giving him the offer, I asked, where did you manage to learn such good English?

He showed me his MCE certificate, dated 1966.

Good grief, I thought. It's in English.

Wait, we had exam certificates in ENGLISH?

Where did the government, specifically the EDUCATION MINISTRY, go wrong?

I've asked my wife and mother in law to speak to my baby daughter in Hakka. Why?

I do not know how or why, but I've seen the effects of being at least bilingual.

People who know more than 1 language are generally SMARTER and more intuitive.

The solution is simple but not easily implemented.

Make ENGLISH a COMPULSORY PASS subject.

This will in no way diminish BM as our national language, but it will do tons of good for the next generation.

I challenge the government. Prove to US, the people, that you want to do good.

Because if you do enough good, we will return you as the government in the next election.

We don't care about allocations for schools that you promised etc.

Because that is YOUR DUTY as the GOVERNMENT, to SERVE US.

YOU ARE THERE TO SERVE THE PEOPLE, regardless of who voted for you.

Now, it looks like I have to save up a lot of money to send my kids to private international schools for the time being...........................