Listening to the President of the United States, Barack Obama addressing his State of the Union (SOTU) speech at Capitol Hill, on Tuesday was pretty entertaining and boring.
Basically, it is the time for the President telling the Congress everything that is right with the US, hence the State of the Union. During the speech, Obama also outlines his annual agenda.
One the things that struck a chord with me is the fact that Obama attempts to persuade the Congress to approve free education for community college students.
I have been an ardent advocate for free education for quite a while now (ever since I was a student!) and I feel it makes sense because education is a right and not a privilege.
It seems that in Malaysia, education is almost a privilege. Not all schools are equal and alike. Some are better than others in terms of infrastructure and teachers.
We have normal public schools, fully-residential schools, Mara Junior Colleges, BESTARI (s) that polarises the education system instead of making all schools equal.
People resort to all kinds of ways to get into a school of their choice, like ‘borrowing’ different residential addresses appealing to officials to be admitted into certain schools, etc.
Then, there is the tertiary education in Malaysia. Although there are many scholarships to be obtained, they are still limited and not to mention that many follow racial quotas.
Even the entry to public universities are perceived to follow racial quotas and the certain quarters who aren’t listed are left with no choice to pursue their studies in private institutions -- that cost even more.
And because of the cost, many will also be forced to forgo their tertiary education and head straight into the workforce. And, that is unfair to the people.
If the US, a country that is buried so deep in profit-making commercialism can entertain the thought of giving free tertiary education, so why not Malaysia?
In fact, we should take it a step further in giving free education to students so that an undergraduate degree will be as universal as Form 5 level education.
I'm sure Malaysia can do it. We just need to take a look at our social healthcare system which is already doing a fine job of providing equal healthcare for the rakyat.
It doesn’t matter who you are and how much you can afford, you will not be turned away at a government hospital or medical centre and it is affordable.
And how do we pay for such affordable universal healthcare? The government has allocated the budget for it. Basically, different areas that generate revenues subsidise for the cost of healthcare.
Adopting similar methodology, I'm pretty sure this can be done for tertiary education too. Countries including Germany, Sweden and Denmark, to name a few, have provided free tertiary education.
In fact, these countries even pay their students to study as well as conduct research, that it can even become a career choice to become ‘professional’ students.
How will this benefit us?
It benefits Malaysia by increasing the number of quality graduates, enhances academic and research abilities and inculcates a sense of importance towards education.
I know that there are a lot of things the country has to strive for so that everyone is equal under the law of Malaysia.
But, I believe education has to be up there on the priority list, too.
Zan Azlee
Thu Jan 22 2015
Listening to the President of the United States, Barack Obama, give his State of the Union address can be pretty entertaining and boring at the same time. Its basically a time when the president of the country tells Congress everything that is righ
Menteri Indonesia bincang isu pekerja migran dengan rakan sejawat dari Malaysia
Fauziyah harap Steven akan membawa penambahbaikan kepada dasar berkaitan tenaga kerja Indonesia.
Pahang peruntuk RM1.5 juta bantuan tunai bakal jemaah haji
Sebanyak 1,588 jemaah haji Pahang menerima sumbangan 'duit poket' berjumlah RM750 seorang bagi membantu meringankan beban bakal haji dalam melakukan persiapan melaksanakan rukun Islam kelima itu.
PRK Kuala Kubu Baharu: Pengundi jangan mudah percaya taktik fitnah - Ramanan
Ramanan berkata pengundi perlu lebih berhati-hati, dan sentiasa menyemak fakta apabila mendengar kempen politik yang dilakukan pihak lawan.
KEDA berhasrat tanam padi wangi, padi huma tahun ini
Lembaga Kemajuan Wilayah Kedah (KEDA) berhasrat membangunkan tanaman padi wangi dan padi huma di beberapa kawasan pertanian dalam wilayahnya, tahun ini.
Mesyuarat perundingan Enam Pihak Arab bincangkan perkembangan di Gaza
Mesyuarat perundingan Jawatankuasa Enam Pihak Arab itu membincangkan perkembangan serangan Israel ke atas Semenanjung Gaza.
Chegubard didakwa di Mahkamah Sesyen KL esok - Peguam
Badrul Hisham Shaharin atau dikenali Chegubard akan didakwa di Mahkamah Sesyen Kuala Lumpur esok atas pertuduhan memfitnah dan menghasut.
Pulau Pinang, kerajaan pusat bekerjasama tarik pelaburan semikonduktor
Kerajaan Pulau Pinang akan bekerjasama dengan Kerajaan Persekutuan untuk meneruskan usaha menarik pelaburan dalam sektor semikonduktor, termasuk segmen reka bentuk litar bersepadu (IC) di negeri itu.
Rakyat Malaysia di Jordan jadi duta produk PMKS negara
Menteri Pembangunan Usahawan dan Koperasi Datuk Ewon Benedick menyarankan rakyat Malaysia yang menetap di Jordan supaya memainkan peranan sebagai “duta” untuk mempromosikan produk perusahaan mikro kecil dan sederhana (PMKS) SERTA koperasi negara.
Mohamed Khaled tiba di Indonesia, dijadual bertemu Prabowo
Menteri Pertahanan Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin tiba di Jakarta hari ini untuk lawatan kerja rasmi sulung beliau ke Indonesia sejak memegang jawatan itu.
SPRM mohon maklumat dari Jerman
Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) memohon maklumat terkini daripada pihak berkuasa Jerman mengenai dana bon 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) yang dipercayai digunakan untuk membeli kereta mewah di negara itu pada 26 Okt 2022.
15 universiti di Malaysia tersenarai dalam THE Asia University Ranking 2021
Universiti Malaya masih kekal berada dalam kumpulan 50 teratas pusat pengajian terbaik di dunia.
Murid prasekolah Korea Utara kini diwajib ambil subjek cerita kehebatan Kim Jong-un
Pelajar prasekolah di Korea Utara dipaksa untuk mengikuti mata pelajaran Greatness Education yang menceritakan mengenai kehebatan pemimpin negara itu, Kim Jong-un selama 90 minit pada setiap hari.
MPPK sambut baik keputusan pembukaan semula IPT
MPPK menyambut baik keputusan berhubung pembukaan semula IPT secara berperingkat seperti diumumkan Menteri Pengajian Tinggi, Datuk Dr Noraini Ahmad.
Insentif pemandu pelancong Johor cerminan keprihatinan kerajaan negeri
Pandemik COVID-19 telah melumpuhkan sektor pelancongan global dan Malaysia juga tidak terkecuali.
Taska, pusat jagaan kanak-kanak ikut SOP, ibu bapa tidak perlu bimbang
Kebenaran pembukaan semula Taman Asuhan Kanak-Kanak (Taska) dan pusat jagaan kanak-kanak tentunya memberi nafas lega kepada ibu bapa yang bekerja.