Socio-economic status and educational achievement in plural society: Peninsular Malaysia

Abstract

In a plural society such as Malaysia, three variables have a special significance in terms of which the general problems of "inequality" and "national development" are often perceived and defined: these are ethnicity, rural-urban residence and social class.1 2 While investment in education is seen by national planners as an investment in human capital formation for generating further socio-economic development, it is also seen as a means for correcting imbalances or in- equality in socio-economic well-being among the ethnic, rural-urban and social-class groups." From the point of view of the general public (the parents), their investment in education is seen as a means for getting skills and credentials for social mobility. Education is seen by the poor as a main avenue for getting out of poverty, and by those in a better socio-economic position a means for sustaining and improving their existing position. Increasing adoption of formal organization for modernization leads to a closer relationship between education, occupation and income, and formal education has become a major arena for sharp competition among the various ethnic, rural-urban and socio-economic groups for getting access and achievement in it. Achievement in primary-level public examination is often regarded as a major step in the competition for achievement and getting credentials in subsequent levels of education and public examinations.