Achieving unity: a 21st century competency
Professor Tan Sri Dato' Dzulkifli Abdul Razak
Learning Curve: Perspective
New Sunday Times - 26-02-2012
Unity is a core aspiration of the education system
PARENTS and teachers have been urged to appreciate Malaysia's diversity.
Education Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin says schools are the best place to promote unity and understanding in his speech during World Interfaith Week at SMK (P) Sri Aman, Petaling Jaya.
Indeed, this was the crux of the 1956 Razak Report: "Unify students from all races with one education system that covers all races."
It has been undoubtedly the cornerstone of the country's education system that allows students to intermingle with each other, though more so then than today.
As we busy ourselves with the so-called 21st century competencies, and get caught up in the buzzwords of the knowledge economy, the basic foundation for a strong community seems to have escaped us.
There is a tendency to think that the new century is all about advanced concepts and ideas to promote new economic growth.
Basic issues of sociocultural dimension get lost in translation.
In this regard, the then Education Minister Datuk Abdul Razak Hussein was right to suggest "unity" as the core aspiration of the education system.
Forty years later, in 1996, at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France the report Learning: The Treasure Within was presented to the International Commission on Education for the 21st century.
In the preamble to its report the commission states: "The truth is that all-out economic growth can no longer be viewed as the ideal way of reconciling material progress with equity, respect for the human condition and respect for the natural assets that we have a duty to hand on in good condition to future generations."
It raised a pertinent issue that is much more relevant today.
But how can we learn to live together in the 'global village' if we cannot manage to live together in the communities to which we naturally belong -- the nation, the region, the city, the village, the neighbourhood?
It duly recognises seven major tensions that would be central to the 21st century including a perennial one -- tension between the spiritual and the material, that hinges on the question of values or the "soul" of education.
We often fail to realise that the world has a longing, often unexpressed, for an ideal and values which the commission termed as "moral".
It is no exaggeration on the commission's part to say that the survival of humanity depends on how these tensions are being diffused through the noble purpose of education, beyond material terms.
In short, it goes back to the theme of "unity" as a value cutting across all dimensions of society, from the individual in the community to global village, nurturing minds and hearts towards a universal commonality.
The commission felt that education throughout life is based on four pillars -- learning to live together; learning to be (another important competency that is often overlooked); learning to know; and learning to do. The last two are the ones that most are familiar with and are closely examined.
As all the pillars are collectively vital, together they form the basis of the report to UNESCO. What chance do we have if we are not fully appreciative of them?
Muhyiddin's reminder is timely.
"In schools, we see students of different races and religions sitting side by side. We can achieve unity in the country. But we need teachers to help us achieve this."
This is precisely what the Razak Report intended to convey well ahead of its time.
Perhaps, we must now be bold enough to venture a step further by seriously contemplating the suggestion by the Youth Development Laboratory in the Ministry of Youth and Sports, which recommends a "standardised school system" to promote unity and diversity.
The lab also has requested the Education Ministry to draft an education standardisation roadmap to move in this direction, beginning with a coordinated exchange of programmes between the various types of schools.
This is apt because we are reminded by the commission to think principally about children and the youth who will take over from today's generation of adults.
Moreover, education is also an expression of affection for children and young people, whom we need to welcome into society, unreservedly offering them the place that is theirs by right -- a place in the education system, to be sure, but also in the family, local community and nation.
This elementary duty needs to be constantly brought to mind, so that greater attention is paid to it, and it is not sacrificed on the altars of political, economic and narrow vested interest.
Now that we are more than a decade into the 21st century, it is time to put all the four pillars of learning on an equal pedestal where learning to live together and learning to be must claim their rightful place alongside learning to know and learning to do.
These are, after all, in no uncertain terms 21st century competencies that we can no longer afford to neglect given the global village we are in today, starting with our own national village called Malaysia.
The call by Muhyiddin must be duly heeded!
- The writer is vice chancellor of Albukhary International University.
Learning Curve: Perspective
New Sunday Times - 26-02-2012
Unity is a core aspiration of the education system
PARENTS and teachers have been urged to appreciate Malaysia's diversity.
Education Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin says schools are the best place to promote unity and understanding in his speech during World Interfaith Week at SMK (P) Sri Aman, Petaling Jaya.
Indeed, this was the crux of the 1956 Razak Report: "Unify students from all races with one education system that covers all races."
It has been undoubtedly the cornerstone of the country's education system that allows students to intermingle with each other, though more so then than today.
As we busy ourselves with the so-called 21st century competencies, and get caught up in the buzzwords of the knowledge economy, the basic foundation for a strong community seems to have escaped us.
There is a tendency to think that the new century is all about advanced concepts and ideas to promote new economic growth.
Basic issues of sociocultural dimension get lost in translation.
In this regard, the then Education Minister Datuk Abdul Razak Hussein was right to suggest "unity" as the core aspiration of the education system.
Forty years later, in 1996, at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France the report Learning: The Treasure Within was presented to the International Commission on Education for the 21st century.
In the preamble to its report the commission states: "The truth is that all-out economic growth can no longer be viewed as the ideal way of reconciling material progress with equity, respect for the human condition and respect for the natural assets that we have a duty to hand on in good condition to future generations."
It raised a pertinent issue that is much more relevant today.
But how can we learn to live together in the 'global village' if we cannot manage to live together in the communities to which we naturally belong -- the nation, the region, the city, the village, the neighbourhood?
It duly recognises seven major tensions that would be central to the 21st century including a perennial one -- tension between the spiritual and the material, that hinges on the question of values or the "soul" of education.
We often fail to realise that the world has a longing, often unexpressed, for an ideal and values which the commission termed as "moral".
It is no exaggeration on the commission's part to say that the survival of humanity depends on how these tensions are being diffused through the noble purpose of education, beyond material terms.
In short, it goes back to the theme of "unity" as a value cutting across all dimensions of society, from the individual in the community to global village, nurturing minds and hearts towards a universal commonality.
The commission felt that education throughout life is based on four pillars -- learning to live together; learning to be (another important competency that is often overlooked); learning to know; and learning to do. The last two are the ones that most are familiar with and are closely examined.
As all the pillars are collectively vital, together they form the basis of the report to UNESCO. What chance do we have if we are not fully appreciative of them?
Muhyiddin's reminder is timely.
"In schools, we see students of different races and religions sitting side by side. We can achieve unity in the country. But we need teachers to help us achieve this."
This is precisely what the Razak Report intended to convey well ahead of its time.
Perhaps, we must now be bold enough to venture a step further by seriously contemplating the suggestion by the Youth Development Laboratory in the Ministry of Youth and Sports, which recommends a "standardised school system" to promote unity and diversity.
The lab also has requested the Education Ministry to draft an education standardisation roadmap to move in this direction, beginning with a coordinated exchange of programmes between the various types of schools.
This is apt because we are reminded by the commission to think principally about children and the youth who will take over from today's generation of adults.
Moreover, education is also an expression of affection for children and young people, whom we need to welcome into society, unreservedly offering them the place that is theirs by right -- a place in the education system, to be sure, but also in the family, local community and nation.
This elementary duty needs to be constantly brought to mind, so that greater attention is paid to it, and it is not sacrificed on the altars of political, economic and narrow vested interest.
Now that we are more than a decade into the 21st century, it is time to put all the four pillars of learning on an equal pedestal where learning to live together and learning to be must claim their rightful place alongside learning to know and learning to do.
These are, after all, in no uncertain terms 21st century competencies that we can no longer afford to neglect given the global village we are in today, starting with our own national village called Malaysia.
The call by Muhyiddin must be duly heeded!
- The writer is vice chancellor of Albukhary International University.