According to UNESCO, Malaysia provides well for its students:

BANGKOK: The Malaysian education system has done well in terms of facilities provided to students and teachers’ salaries, according to a study carried out in 11 countries by Unesco’s Institute for Statistics. Malaysia scored a high percentage in the availability of electricity, blackboards, sufficient seating, library facilities and computers for students and administrators.

The report, released by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation yesterday, showed that educational expenditure per primary school pupil was highest in Chile (US$2,120 or RM6,900), followed by Argentina (US$1,605), Malaysia (US$1,552), Brazil (US$1,159) and Uruguay (US$1,063).

In contrast, expenditure per primary school pupil was less than US$700 in India, Paraguay, Peru and the Philippines.

It’s good to know that Malaysian schools provide a lot for their students. However, I would like to know the following to make more sense of this report:

• How well-maintained are the resources and facilities? Are students given recent and up-to-date resources, or are they still on highly outdated resources (such as computers running Windows 95)?
• What percentage of that money is that compared to the rest of the National Budget? How does it compare to national living costs?
• How effectively is that money utilized? Is the money well-spent?
• Where in Malaysia, besides the completely rural areas, do you get 18 students for one teacher? Our classrooms were commonly filled with 30-40 people.
• How effectively are the students learning? Do the resources actually contribute to student education? Are the teachers doing well?

EDIT: It seems that the priorities may be a little misplaced. From Nat Tan quoting Malaysiakini (emphasis Nat’s):

The government has spent a total of RM3.2 billion over the past five years to carry out the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English, Deputy Education Minister Razali Ismail told the Dewan Rakyat today.

Out of the amount, the government paid a whopping RM2.21 billion for the purchase of information and computer technology (ICT) equipments.

The rest of the expenditure went to the payment for educational incentives (RM638 million), teachers’ training (RM317 million) and ICT software (RM2.4 million).

WHOA! But what’s the point of all that money on technology if you don’t train teachers to use it? What about language training - apparently some teachers still revert to Bahasa Malaysia! What’s “educational incentives”? Why does hardware need to be that expensive? What about other non-computing learning tools, books, field trips?

Where’s all that money going through and where does it all come from?

I’m proud to announce that EducateDeviate has been accepted into the latest round of 9rules, a well-known and well-respected blog network that features content from all areas and aspects of life.

I’m particularly stoked about being in 9rules as it’s highly sought after and it has strong community aspects. I’m interested in meeting up with other 9rules bloggers, particularly education bloggers, and see how we can work together to develop greater content. I’m also interested in getting assistance in developing EducateDeviate further, from just being a blog to being a full-fledged resource centre.

Another homeschooling/alternative education blog, Just Enough, was also accepted into this round of 9rules. I found her through looking at the accepted websites list and it’s great to have more blogs like ours around - they’re hard to find as it is! The Education community on 9rules is rather sparse at the moment, but hopefully myself and Just Enough will be able to fill it out a bit.

Huzzah! Thank you Scriv, Mike, and Tyme!

If you haven’t failed, you haven’t lived.

Just read on Education in Malaysia about the HOPE Program, where students who weren’t able to obtain places in public universities in Malaysia will be able to apply for a subsidised spot in a network of nine private universities - APIIT, LimKokWing, Segi, Life, Stamford, Putra, Inti, Mantissa, and Nilai.

The HOPE Network will also provide more funding options, such as PTPTN, to assure that students will be able to afford their education.

I like this idea. There are many reasons students get left out from being in public universities (for example, my sister was a top scorer and was very high-achieving anyway, but she couldn’t get into any public uni because she was Lain-Lain and didn’t figure into the quota system) and the cost of private universities can be rather prohibitive. This program offers a happy medium - more options for education at an affordable price.

Of course, potential students must be prepared to do their research on the universities in the network to make sure that they offer what the students need, and that the course is up to par. It can be tempting to take a place because it’s there, after facing rejection, but you still need to be careful - and besides, there’s opportunities everywhere.

Any comments from those about to take up the Program? What do you feel about it?

I have some second-hand books on education/youth for sale. These books are of varying conditions and ages (but generally good). Prices are best offer + shipping; I’ll ship internationally from Brisbane. I accept bank transfers (Australia only) or PayPal (you can pay by credit card using PayPal). I also have some other non-education books; contact me for more info.

Click “More” to see the books I have for sale:

1. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
A story of a mountaineer’s efforts to build schools for an impoverished village in Pakistan. Brand-new. RRP US$15.00.

2. Real World Careers: Why College Is Not The Only Path To Becoming Rich by Besty Cummings
Success stories from those that have become rich without going to college. Very focused on economic success. Like new; front cover a little bent. RRP US$13.99.

3. Coming To Our Senses: The Significance of the Arts for American education by David Rockefeller JR.
Pretty much what it says on the tin. Waaaaaaaay old, cover a little dirty but great reading condition. Useful for arts educators.

4. The Concept of Education edited by R S Peters
Essays about education and learning from various contributors based on public lectures given in 1965. Good for education students. Very old, hardcover, great reading condition.

5. Youth Studies: An Australian Perspective by Judith Bessant, Howard Sercombe, Rob Watts
Textbook for those doing youth studies and youth work. Second-hand; some scribbles (I’m guessing the original owner had a kid that went through this book). Good reading condition otherwise.

6. Educational Psychology by Anita E. Woolfolk
As it says - seventh edition of this textbook. Heavy!! Great reading condition; cover a little bent.

7. This School Gives You Another Chance by QUT
QUT’s report of a community access school for girls. Good condition; a little bent because it’s thin. Bought at QUT Bookshop for $23.50.

8. Practising Education: Social and Cultural Perspectives edited by Daphne Meadmore, Bruce Burnett, Gordon Tait
Essays on education from an Australian/New Zealand perspective. Like new, but a little bent.

9. On Education by Sir Richard Livingstone
Essays on education by the sometime president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Hardcover, ex-library, very old (1956) but great condition.

10. The Quality School: Managing Students Without Coercion by William Glasser, M.D.
Book on improving schools. Old/second-hand but good condition.

11. The Sociology of Education by P.W. Musgrave
Textbook on education and society, third edition. Old/second-hand but great condition.

12. Making the Difference: Schools, Families, and Social Division by R.W. Connell, D.J. Ashenden, S. Kessler, G.W. Dowsett
Detailed study on schools across different class groups, and the importance of change in secondary Australian schooling. Old/second hand; cover has price stickers. Good condition.