Pre-school education in Malaysia at the crossroads a need to understand the nature of our dilemmas

Abstract

The pilot scheme of the New Primary School Curriculum (KBSR) in 1981 and its full implementation in 1982, has moved ahead step by step steadily. The successes scored have been satisfying and significant. These successes are especially worthy of notice when we measure them against the old problems which have afflicted primary school education in Malaysia in the past. The majority of parents, teachers and pupils have attested that KBSR when properly implemented and taught, has been more interesting, less formal and far more meaningful. The major breakthrough, however, has been mainly at the lower levels with children who are disadvantaged and those with learning problems. In the past, large numbers of those in these groups were generally beyond the reach of the old curriculum. These strides beyond the old boundaries of the primary school curriculum, nevertheless, do not suggest that all the old problems have disappeared, or that all the new and thorny challenges are completely under control. The success that we have referred to simply means that we have taken some giant steps forward in the direction of making primary education truly meaningful and beneficial for the vast majority.