The 7As of education

Professor Tan Sri Dato' Dzulkifli Abdul Razak
My View - The Sun Daily
April 22, 2015

THE issue relating to education is always a challenging one. More so because education is said to be changing, and failing, depending on how critical your point of view is. Minimally, however, many would agree that there ought to be some tinkering to meet the demands on the need to conform. The other extreme is of course to reform, transform and revolutionise – all of these words have been used in the context of Malaysia at some point. Now we seem to be in a transformative mode of some kind after two blueprints were unveiled: one for preschool to pre-university (PPPM 2013-2025), and more recently for higher education (PPPM-PT 2015-2025). Taken together these two attempts draw a continuum of transformational changes that build a common platform over the next decade at least. While each is driven by their own transformation processes (called "shifts) they share some common aspirations, namely five system aspirations to enhance access, equity, quality, unity, and efficiency; in addition to six student aspirations on expending knowledge, thinking skills, leadership, language literacy, ethics and spirituality, and national identity.

These aspirations are entwined with each other where the different "shifts" act as levers in ensuring that the relationships are not only complete but wholesome. This will be the measure of how successful the transformation is, and how spot-on is the implementation to shift the entire education system as planned.

There are fundamentally 7As that are vital to characterise a successful education system universally. The first A is accessibility, that is, how many people – from children to adults – can be educated without much difficulty, financially or otherwise. While at some levels the numbers are very encouraging, especially with the provision of universal education, this is not so as we go up the education ladder.

This takes us to the second A, affordability, meaning even though education is accessible but it may not be affordable as in the case of higher education mainly. They have been getting more prohibitive over the years and the disparities between those who can afford a good education and those who are not able to keeps widening. So much so education is becoming a source of socio-economic imbalance instead of the reverse. Governments too are confronted with the issue of affordability as the cost for education escalates at a rate of about 15% a year in Malaysia. Accessibility is therefore constrained by the financial-related considerations which are beginning to distort the educational balance when public spending is thinly spread over too many demands.

The third A is appropriateness. This includes the issue of quality and context, the definition of success and excellence, indeed the model of the education system itself.

Most of these issues are sadly herded by a one-size-fits-all mentality to be benchmarked by the rest of the world. We seem to forget that education is as much about culture as national identity rooted in the National Philosophy of Education (NPE) of a country. Thus for Malaysia the NPE emphasises on the nurturing of a balanced human being (insan seimbang) nourished by the belief in God, and not – as the case today, of "human capital" that is dictated by the "free" market.

The fourth A is autonomy through which the first three As can be consolidated taking into account the diverse and unique context that allows for a viable quality education to meet the need of the individual, community (including family) and the nation. Finland is an excellent example. It recognises at once the richness of other creative models that are locally relevant but with a global outreach. The idea of a "national" university is one where it becomes a cultural conduit to connect to the various worlds of education in the spirit of being truly international.

Autonomy invariably conjectures another A – academic freedom, which in essence is the thought and intellectual force that enriches the education system at all levels in the search for truth for humanity as a whole. Such is the demand on education beyond the narrow prevailing colonised market logic of mere material acquisition. With it is the penultimate A, accountability, which dwells on the deeper practice of ethics, integrity and moral responsibility without which creates what is known as "an education without soul" or "heartless education" that is so prevalent today. It tends to corrupt more than it educates.

Lastly, A for availability. All these must be readily available within an ecosystem that links the 7As optimally in our "own mould" as desired by Wawasan 2020. Only then we can be assured of a meaningful education transformation that we Malaysians can take pride in! Maybe a bonus A – Apex!

With some four decades of experience in education locally and internationally, the writer believes that "another world is possible." Comments: letters@thesundaily.com