Malaysia spends big on education, but families see little progress

By Rozilini Mary Fernandez-Chung

The latest Ipsos poll (The Malay Mail, 19 September) should concern us: fewer than half of Malaysians view the country’s education system positively, ranking it among the lowest of 30 countries surveyed.

That discontent isn’t abstract. It shows up in what families experience: a mismatch between grades and real-world readiness, opaque pathways into high-demand courses, and uneven quality across schools.

This is especially sobering, given that Malaysia invests heavily in education. In Budget 2025, education received the largest allocation: RM58.7bn for the Ministry of Education and RM16.3bn for the Ministry of Higher Education, totalling RM75bn. This reflects a similar position for the last two decades.

These are significant, good-faith bets by the nation and should lead to better outcomes, greater transparency and higher public confidence. 

To achieve better outcomes, transparency and confidence, we must transition from viewing schooling as time served to recognising it as competency demonstrated. This needs integrity-led governance and prioritised investment.

Three moves can quickly convert spending into satisfaction.

1. Measure what matters and publish it

When the public says they’re unhappy, they are often saying they cannot see progress. Put students at the centre and move away from reporting inputs (budgets, facilities) and narrow outputs (exam scores).

Report what learners actually know, can do and are becoming (character). Develop a streamlined public dashboard showcasing competency and wellbeing indicators across various phases.

Integrate a learner-portfolio system that encompasses projects, community service, workplace exposure and lived experiences, collecting evidence that accompanies each student. Transition from relying solely on academic certifications as the currency to competency-based affirmations that recognise multiple ways of demonstrating mastery. 

Publish results at national, state and school levels with clear traffic-light targets, disaggregated by location and socioeconomic status. Tie programme funding to demonstrated improvement, not activity counts. That is how billions translate into visible value for families and how confidence is rebuilt.

2. Put great teaching and facilitation at the centre

Parents don’t experience ‘the system’ – they experience teachers and counsellors. Professionalise both fast!

Recast existing continuing professional development into practice-based coaching that focuses on core instruction (structured literacy and numeracy in the early years) and high-impact pedagogy (explicit instruction alongside problem-based learning).

Eliminate out-of-field teaching through rapid upskilling and smarter deployment, starting with Stem subjects (science, technology, engineering and maths), Malay and English. Improve counsellor-to-student ratios with urban-rural equity targets, and equip counsellors to guide real pathways – TVET (technical and vocational education and training), academic, entrepreneurship).

Front-load digital fluency for teachers. Devices are not a strategy. Confident instruction is. Every ringgit for training should be linked to visible shifts in classroom practice and learner outcomes, verified by independent light-touch observation rubrics and student work samples.

If we invest in the people closest to learning, satisfaction will follow. 

3. Make pathways transparent and fair, especially for oversubscribed programmes

This is even more critical because foreign enrolments in the top five universities have grown 20–30% annually since 2018, while local numbers in several institutions have fallen, as cited by G25.

The periodic uproar over straight-A students missing out on a degree of their choice is a symptom of a broader placement and transparency problem.

Modernise admissions so that merit, fit and fairness are clear. Move to multi-criteria selection in high-demand courses (grades plus aptitude/portfolio/interview where relevant, as already practised in some critical programmes), with published weights and unambiguous tie-break rules.

Introduce contextual admissions (school context or socioeconomic status) so that like-for-like comparisons are fair. For each programme, publish seats, applicants, offers, acceptances, appeals and near-miss progression through foundation or bridging, with assured articulation to a degree.

Parents will accept even tough outcomes when rules are transparent, data is open, and second-chance pathways are credible. 

Why these three?

Because they answer the public’s core questions. Are my children learning what matters? Are their teachers supported to teach well? Are schools providing the right support for developing our children? Are the gates to opportunity fair and understandable?

When we can answer yes to these, satisfaction follows, not because we spin better, but because people can see better.

Malaysia is not under-investing. We are under-translating investment into visible, trusted outcomes.

Let’s build a simple compact with the public: we will publish what matters, coach the people who matter, and clarify the pathways that matter.

If we do, the next global survey won’t have to tell the people of Malaysia whether we are satisfied. We’ll already know from the progress we can all see. 

Dr Rozilini Mary Fernandez-Chung is a principal fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK, an associate professor at the University of Nottingham Malaysia, an independent member of ISG, INQAAHE and a life member of PenDaPaT.

Support our work by making a donation. Tap to download the QR code below and scan this QR code from Gallery by using TnG e-wallet or most banking apps: