NEM to rejuvenate education, says Najib

By Syed Jaymal Zahiid - The Malaysian Insider

PETALING JAYA, March 18 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak (picture) wants the New Economic Model (NEM) to focus on revitalising the country’s education, a sector educationists say is plagued by plunging quality.

Under the NEM, the Najib administration will come up with more merit-based programmes, a move his predecessors have long called for but faced resistance from within his ruling Umno as it will dismantle some, if not all race-based programmes, in line with his all encompassing 1 Malaysia concept.

“Another aspect of this is social inclusiveness… no one should be left behind,” the prime minister said when launching the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation.

Tan Sri Dr Jeffrey Cheah is the founder of one of Malaysia’s most profitable private education outfits, the Sunway Education Group which owns Sunway University College.

Najib believed the private education sector can help his government achieve his target and pleaded for greater co-operation from them.

His NEM aims at propelling the lagging low-value economy forward and among its initiatives is the consolidation on creativity and innovation.

To achieve this is to transform the current education system and strive for academic excellence through adopting the best practices to “strengthen the educational method”, said the prime minister.

He is also keen to make Malaysia, an education hub in the Southeast Asia region.

“I hope all public and private universities will nurture creativity and thinking skills to retain a strong talent pool.

“I call for all public and private education institution to provide incentives to combine efforts to make this country an education hub,” he added.

Najib is expected to announce his NEM in stages, with the first being at the end of March.

The model has already met fierce rejections by the hawks from within his party.

He is now placed in a difficult position of having to choose between retaining the Malay patronage economy to sustain Umno’s core support, or getting the economy out from its neck-deep problems.