KUALA LUMPUR: Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has voiced concern over the quality of the country’s education, stating it is not consistent with present needs.
Debating the education ministry’s 2021 budget in the Dewan Rakyat today, he said that because of that, he will reject the ministry’s budget.
Mahathir, a former education minister, said concerns had been raised by the rakyat in the past that the “knowledge passed on to the young may not be in line with the era of Science and Mathematics”.
“Muslims must know their religion, but it is also obligatory to prepare ourselves with the knowledge of the world,” he said.
The Langkawi MP said time allocated to study Islam should be similarly spent to learn other subjects.
He said knowledge of Science and Mathematics is “not static”, and while they are written in English, the Malay translation requires translators who are experts in Science, Malay and English.
“We do not have such translators,” the independent MP said.
He said those intending to study overseas also need to know the English language as academic discourses are also carried out in English.
As for Mathematics, he said, “it is a crucial subject to send a rocket to the space station”.
Mahathir said education could also be carried out through computers and YouTube which can be repeated several times.
He said there was no proposal in the budget to make education relevant and because of that, we will not support the education ministry’s budget.