Education as a vehicle for reducing economic inequality in Malaysia

Abstract

The major objective of this paper, as its title suggests, is to examine to what extent education can be relied upon to reduce economic inequality in a dependent capitalist economy such as Malaysia. There are two aspects to this problem of economic inequality that are of crucial importance in this country viz (i) inequality between the upper and lower income strata and (ii) inter-racial inequality. Although no one, least of all the Malaysian policy-makers, expects education alone, even one that has been and will probably continue to be democratised, to perform the heroic task of achieving equality from both these dimensions, yet much faith has been placed upon it to achieve this noble objective. Placement of faith in a democratised educational system as the great equaliser, however, is one thing, its effectiveness, particularly in a dependent capitalist society is another. In looking at the potency of education as an instrument for achieving equality in Malaysia, we have relied on data accumulated by the numerous studies on this subject. This may not be entirely satisfactory since changes in trends between the time these studies were carried out and the present might well have accurred. A more up-to-date research, particularly on the question of social class background and accessibility to tertiary education, may well be required. However, some conclusion on past trends can still be drawn from the aforementioned studies.