Dr Dzaharudin Mansor said Malaysia’s education system followed the “300-year old colonial British system”, which he said had the aim of producing officers to obey orders so that these officers could be sent to countries controlled centrally from England.

However the United Kingdom had since moved away from such a system and had introduced relevant courses which were more suitable for the current work demand.

“However, Malaysia still continues the colonial British education system which does not inspire creative and critical thinking.

“We are not taught to challenge the status quo and this is one of the reasons why our culture of innovation is not maturing,” he said at the “Asian Tiger 4th Talk” organised by Akademi Harimau Asia yesterday.

Also present was Dr Azree Shahrel Ahmad Nazri, the president of Artificial Intelligence Malaysia.

Dzaharudin said the future of learning lay in “flipped classrooms” whereby students will be taught with the help of computers. He explained that in a “flipped classroom”, students watch lectures and take part in discussions online.

Students would come to classes only to focus on higher order thinking and more complex aspects of learning guided by teachers.

“Teachers, on the other hand, ascend from teaching to engaging with students on more sophisticated learning. This is when teachers can challenge students to be more critical thinking and creative.”

Dzaharudin said the job market, especially in the technology industry, was being disrupted by smaller and agile companies.

“We need to change our mindset to stay ahead of disruption.”