Tan Ai Mei, who holds a PhD in policy analysis and higher education from the University of Western Australia, said the ministry needed to troubleshoot previous policies to determine where and how the education system went wrong.
“It might not help if the minister introduces new policies for the new year without knowing why the previous policies did not work,” she told FMT.
“Previous policies were good on paper but did not get translated into reality.”
She added that change was needed in the education system, especially to move away from top-down instructions from the ministry. She also said schools should be allowed to decide for themselves whether to use e-textbooks or other types of books.
“At the moment, too many things are being standardised without taking into account the ability of the schools or teachers,” she said.
She urged the ministry to first determine if teachers are ready for a system to be implemented, and if officers are ready to implement school assessment programmes.
She cited the Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) programme which she said never took off as teachers only taught students what they needed to pass exams.
“There is no proper comprehension of the topic. Our education system remains so exam-oriented that students just want to pass their exams,” she said.
Tan, who is an instructor at a teachers training institute, added that there were new developments in industries but no discussions in the classroom.
This was what was lacking in the HOTS programme, which would only succeed if it was activity-based, she said.
“Now, some teachers come to the classroom, read from the textbook and tell students which questions are likely to come out.
“How can we create thinking students in this type of environment?”
She added that students must be able to interact with teachers on any given topic, which would stimulate the ability to think and speak up.
“This is not challenging the teachers’ authority,” she said. “It is only to have a debate on the issue.”
As things stood, she said, the education system was only creating straight-A students who were unable to think critically.
She urged the ministry to train teachers to help them connect with students and teach through activities.
“There are a lot of talented teachers, but we need to move away from the old-fashioned way of learning from textbooks only.”
She voiced hope that the ministry would retrain teachers so that they could “unlearn what they have learnt” and adopt the most effective way to create a love of reading and knowledge among students.
She also suggested that schools be allowed to draw up their own programmes and activities instead of following a standard system.