Malaysian schools use standardized tests

Education

Malaysian schools use standardized tests, ensuring that only those who are capable to are able to finish their schooling. The culture of classes revolve around a mix of Malay and Chinese with the language of instruction primarily in Malay and English (Chinese secondarily). There is a solid presence of schools that stand out as relatively superior, namely the Malacca High School, Royal Military College, and Penang Free School. These schools are very selective and can only be attended by those with outstanding academic aptitude.

There are also plenty of vocational programs and polytechnic schools in Malaysia which last 2 and 3 years each respectively. This is particularly useful for the students who know exactly what they want before entering tertiary schooling level or for those that are sent to school as training for their job. This form of education is much cheaper and quicker than the original four-year program that a university offers while still allowing the student to specialize in their chosen field.

As inferred from the literacy rate, 89% of Malaysia’s adult population is able to read and write. Malaysia’s Primary school enrollment ratio for was measured at 93%, secondary school enrollment at 70%, and tertiary school enrollment at 29% as of the year 2002. Unemployment as of 2003 was pegged at 3.6%. Among these Malaysian unemployed, the following numbers describe the unemployment by level of education:

(Thousands of People)

• – No schooling: 13.4
• – Primary 45.7
• – Lower Secondary 72.7
• – Upper Secondary 168.2
• – Post-Secondary, Non-Tertiary 12.1
• – First Stage of Tertiary 57.8

We can see that there is a relatively large portion of people at the secondary-level (high school) who are unemployed, 240,900. Potential investors can take this opportunity to invest inside Malaysia knowing that there is a considerable amount of unemployed medium-skilled population. Malaysia has the highest education expenditure percentage among China, Singapore, and the Philippines. Malaysia spent 25.5% of its total expenditure on education while China spent 18.3%, Singapore spent 22.8%, and the Philippines spent just 16%.

Exports

Malaysia is a member of the ASEAN and has a developing economy largely dependent on exports. Malaysia’s largest export markets are electrical and electronic products, textiles, and rubber-based products. Agricultural and mining are the next biggest industries also worth noting. Malaysia is a very fervent exporter agricultural products and byproducts such as of cocoa beans, pepper, palm oil, tropical timber, and natural rubber.

Malaysia offers sizeable tax breaks for investors in export-based industries; this strongly encourages investors from all over the world to come and do export businesses in Malaysia. The size of the tax break given differs from industry to industry and the tax break changes frequently to regulate the economy from any potential problems. Malaysia exports plenty of electronics, fuels, oils, and if you would believe, even electricity itself. Malaysia practically runs Singapore’s power grid since Singapore is geographically surrounded by Malaysia on most of its sides.

We can see that Malaysia is a

Malaysia is renowned worldwide for its openness to trade. Malaysia, for the most part, believes in free markets and only controls certain tax breaks occasionally and for the sole purpose of preserving long-term interests. Malaysia is a large net exporter and practically no barriers to entry exist in the export-based businesses.

Health

Health in Malaysia takes up a lot of national attention and there is reason to. Malaysia has had high incidence of almost all of the common and recent pandemics in recent memory such as SARS, Swine Flu, Dengue, etc. Malaysia has responded well by increasing government healthcare expenditure as well as requiring Malaysian doctors to serve three years in a public service before starting their private practice.

In the past, the Malaysian health industry was a very low-return-on-investment industry but recently, more and more investors have been found looking into investing in Malaysian healthcare because of, unfortunately, the increase in both patients and national budget to. Presently, health as an industry and opportunity for business is a positive thing in Malaysia, however, health itself is not that good in Malaysia as they are affected by most of the famous pandemics.

Allocation Of Funds

Below are the highlights of the 2008 National Budget of Malaysia:

• RM6.5 billion is allocated for the agricultural sector. Among the programs to be implemented include encouraging the cultivation of floriculture, herbs and spices.
• RM236 million is provided for the biotechnology industry. Among the projects are the development of biodiversity research centre, biotechnology commercialization centre and anti-cancer compound research.
• RM22 million is provided to increase home-stay activities in 47 selected villages.
• RM30 billion is allocated for the Education Ministry, including the implementation of the Education Development Blueprint.
• RM500,000 will be provided to each cluster school for co-curriculum activities, training as well as educational equipment.
• RM12 billion is provided for the implementation of various higher education projects and programs to produce highly knowledgeable and first class human capital as well as develop world-class higher institution.
• RM2 billion is allocated to various government training agencies to increase the number and quality of trained workers, in line with the needs of the labor market.
• RM480 million is allocated for GIAT MARA and Industrial Training Institute (ILP) training programs, as well as skills training in the National Youth Training Institute.
• RM550 million is allocated to upgrade polytechnic and community colleges to enhance the capacity of training institution.
• RM750 million is allocated for the construction of Advanced Technology Training Centre in Taiping and ILP in Marang.
• For 2008, RM100 million will be allocated to train 50,000 workers under the Masterskills Training Program, encompassing management skills and physical construction.
• For 2008, RM230 million is allocation for the Science Fund, RM300 million for the Techno Fund and RM546 million for research institution.
• RM381 million is allocated for the implementation of low-cost housing programs, of which RM191 million is allocated for the Program Perumahan Rakyat (PPR) Disewa while RM190 million is allocated for PPR Bersepadu.
• RM887 million has been allocated to build more quarters for civil servants nationwide in 2008
• RM12 billion will be expended over the next four years to improve the public transportation system in Kuala Lumpur and Penang.
• RM4 billion is allocated to implement several projects to improve the quality of life in Sabah.
• RM4 billion is allocated for the implementation of development projects in Sarawak.
• RM680 million to be provided for the construction of rural and village roads, RM462 million for rural water and electricity supply projects, RM70 million for social amenities, and RM15 million for ICT education in rural areas.
• RM13 billion allocated for improving the quality of hospital services, purchasing medical supply and health equipment.
• RM9.7 billion to be allocated for various types of maintenance works.
• RM176.9 billion to be allocated for 2008 Budget, up 10.9 percent from 2007, of which RM128.8 billion is for operating expenditure and RM48.1 billion is for development expenditure.
• The largest allocation for development expenditure at RM20.6 billion is for the agriculture, industry and infrastructure sectors; RM15.6 billion is for education, health and housing sectors; RM7.0 billion for security sector; RM2.9 billion for administration; and RM2.0 billion for contingencies.

From the highlights shown in the 2008 National Budget, we can see that Malaysia is really focused on developing. It poured out money in very many programs that will increase various work-related skills that are expected to increase Malaysia’s total efficiency and productivity. The budget also reveals that the largest allocation for development expenditure is RM20.6 billion for agriculture, industry, and infrastructure sectors. This figure should include improvements to the already very efficient transport system in use in Malaysia for all three forms of transport: land, air, and sea.

The National Budget in 2008 is seen to not only add to the existing structures, but also to improve the existing structures altogether. This is evident in the points raised about improving community colleges into polytechnic universities, improving the textbooks of primary and secondary schools as well as also giving heavy funding to the independent Science research institutions.

Sources

http://www.asia-planet.net/malaysia/information.htm

http://fita.org/countries/malaysia.html

http://www.readycompanies.com/Malaysia-Budget-2008.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Malaysia

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/skills-ap/skills/malaysia_literacy.htm

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/skills-ap/skills/malaysia_primary_education.htm

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/skills-ap/skills/malaysia_secondary_education.htm

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/skills-ap/skills/malaysia _tertiary_education.htm

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/skills-ap/skills/malaysia_employment.htm

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/skills-ap/skills/malaysia _economy.htm

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/skills-ap/skills/philippines_literacy.htm

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/skills-ap/skills/philippines_primary_education.htm

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/skills-ap/skills/philippines_secondary_education.htm

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/skills-ap/skills/philippines _tertiary_education.htm

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/skills-ap/skills/philippines_employment.htm

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/skills-ap/skills/philippines _economy.htm

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/skills-ap/skills/singapore_literacy.htm

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/skills-ap/skills/singapore_primary_education.htm

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/skills-ap/skills/singapore_secondary_education.htm

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/skills-ap/skills/singapore _tertiary_education.htm

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/skills-ap/skills/singapore_employment.htm

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/skills-ap/skills/singapore _economy.htm

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/skills-ap/skills/china_literacy.htm

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/skills-ap/skills/china_primary_education.htm

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/skills-ap/skills/china_secondary_education.htm

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/skills-ap/skills/china _tertiary_education.htm

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/skills-ap/skills/china_employment.htm

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/skills-ap/skills/china _economy.htm