8 key results to gauge Education Blueprint

The success of the National Education Development Blueprint (PPPM) can be gauged through eight key results, including 100 per cent Bahasa Malaysia literacy and numeracy for Year Three and a significant improvement in English literacy by year-end, said Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

He said this would include 100 per cent pass rate of one higher level in the Cambridge Replacement Test for English teachers, 50 per cent reduction of band six and seven schools in Kedah and Sabah, and 88 per cent of pre-school enrolment.

Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also education minister, said ten International Baccalaureate (IB) schools and 18 more high performance schools would be created; 100 per cent of urban schools would be equipped with 4G; 410,000 teachers would be vetted through an integrated instrument, and 1,608 schools would undergo major repairs.

"To further strengthen the implementation of all initiatives under the blueprint, the Education Performance and Delivery Unit (PADU) has been set up to help solve problematic situations at fundamental level," he said when delivering the Education Ministry's new year message today.

Muhyiddin said the unit would take corrective measures to overcome problems that could affect performance besides providing financial injection.

Tasked with big workload and responsibilities, he said PADU would be made up of talented and high-performance officers from the Education Ministry and other ministries.

On the restructuring of the Education Ministry, state education departments and district education offices, Muhyiddin said when completed, each entity should be more responsible, accountable and prudent for every riggit spent to enable a quantum leap in national education to be achieved.

He also reminded the ministry's employees to take heed of the prime minister's call that they focus on the seven directions outlined for civil servants this year.