GE 13 : Who is Going to Give Education the Support it Deserves?

Long before any manifesto became public we had the comfort of knowing where school education is heading in Malaysia thanks to the National Education Blueprint 2013- 2025.
A hint as to the importance of this document is contained in the date 2025. This means the NEB will still be transforming education by the time the current crop finish their years at school. It will do this by improving teacher standards, giving parents more input in the quality of their children's learning and boosting access to computers and the internet.
BN's manifesto builds on the NEB to pledge that Malaysia's school system will be world "top third" standard; a totally realistic goal for a school system ranked 14th out of 142 countries by the World Economic Forum's Global Competitive Index last year - ahead of the United Kingdom, Germany and the USA.
Making English a compulsory SPM pass reminds us that the Prime Minister wants to focus on subjects that boost our knowledge economy. The future economy is the digital economy and the language it speaks is English.
Likewise the focus on mathematics and sciences – subjects needed for a tech nation, which countries like the U.S., the United Kingdom and Australia have largely consigned to the "too hard" basket. No wonder our graduates are so sought after in those countries.
Pakatan Rakyat's pronouncements on education showcase their usual muddled and opportunistic thinking. When the NEB was tabled last December the first reaction of PKR's Nurul Izzah Anwar was to attack it, but then, seeing it was resonating well with parents, to suddenly give it grudging support.
"The government is not doing this for us as a favour," she sneered.
Pakatan's free education pledge has long ago been attacked on the grounds it will lead to lower standards as it has everywhere else in the world, including basket-case Greece.
The promise to scrap PTPTN long ago was priced at RM23 billion – money Pakatan hasn't budgeted for; and its cost of living allowance will be warmly welcomed by students who will doubtless use it to stretch out their three year degree into six comfortable, yet wasteful years. Pot noodles all round; the Government is paying!
And what to make of Pakatan's promise to train one million school leavers as skilled labour? This is the person cleaning the machinery at the electronics plant, not the senior engineer working out how to make the next generation mobile phone. These skilled labours are important to the economy but if the students earmarked for Pakatan's second tier had dreams of bettering themselves, then this proposal has just slammed the door on their ambitions.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib considers his premiership a work in progress so it is too early to start thinking about what his legacy might be. But apart from the economy, it is safe to say he would like to be remembered as the man who asked: "Why shouldn't we have the best school system in the world?" and then set about making it happen.