Education system to strengthen human capital - Economy Report

The government is on track in strengthening and empowering human capital by improving the education system starting from preschool to the tertiary level, as well as through skills training for the workforce.

These measures are being taken to provide the country's human capital with sufficient education, technical and soft skills, apart from inculcating thinking, innovation and creativity.

According to the 2014-2015 Economic Report issued by the Finance Ministry, preschool enrollment recorded a high achievement of up to 81.7 per cent, involving 793,269 children through improving basic literacy and numeracy skills to almost 99 per cent after a year of implementation of the Malaysia Education Blueprint.

To ensure children including those with special needs have access to preschool education, the government provided RM530 million for preschool programmes as well as to set up preschools in national-type primary schools.

"As of August 2014, a total of RM106.4 million was spent on providing aid for preschool per capita grant, co-curriculum activities as well as food and insurance programmes, involving 196,710 preschool children nationwide," said the report.

Or tertiary education, the government has spent RM266.2 million for the MyBrain15 programme involving 4,989 master's and 1,435 doctorate (PhD) students in tandem with the national target to produce 60,000 PhD graduates by 2023.

The report also mentioned that the government has intensified efforts to increase the intake as well as improve student performance in science, technology and mathematics as Malaysia moves towards becoming a knowledge-based and innovation-driven nation.

With the emphasis on shifting the economy from low-end to high-end manufacturing that requires skilled labour and to enhance employability of graduates, the government has conducted many programmes to produce and improve the quality of skilled workers nationwide.

The single-tier programme for the Malaysia Skills Certificate (SKM) from level one to three has been implemented in 23 Industrial Training Institutes (ILP) nationwide, with the implementation of the Skills Development Fund Corporation (SDFC) and Industrial Skills Enhancement Programme (INSEP) among the initiatives taken by the government.