Huge education workforce

The Education Ministry is expected to have more than half a million staff members after the merging of two ministries into a single entity, says Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

He said the process of merging the education and higher education ministries is expected to be completed within a month.

“The process will not be too complicated to carry out. Each ministry already had well-defined tasks. The Education Ministry was in charge of primary and secondary level matters, while the Higher Education Ministry was looking after higher education institutions,” he told reporters after meeting senior management from the former Higher Education Ministry yesterday.

Muhyiddin, who is also Education Minister, said that the merging of the two ministries would smoothen the implementation of the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had earlier announced the merging of the Education and Higher Education ministries when he unveiled his new Cabinet last week.

Muhyiddin said both he and Second Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh would be in charge of issues related to both schools and higher education institutions.

“It is important for both of us to be well aware of the development of education in all aspects,” he added.

He said both Deputy Education Ministers Datuk Mary Yap and P. Kamalanathan would also not divide their duties between the school and higher education levels.

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LINUS programme to detect dyslexia symptoms

The Education Ministry, through the Literacy and Numeracy Screening (LINUS) programme, has established an early detection ground for dyslexic students to ensure help is provided at an early stage.

All Year 1 to Year 3 students have to undergo a LINUS test to determine their level of competency in reading, writing and arithmetic (3R).

The Welfare, Women and Family Development Minister Datuk Fatimah Abdullah has shared that this system is trusted to be able to provide an early detection of children with dyslexia symptoms so they can be provided with special education to help them cope with their education needs.

“More public awareness needs to be created to help children with dyslexia in this state.

“They are intelligent but they sometimes find it hard to communicate or have problems with spelling.

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Better school security

THE Education Ministry will standardise the security level of schools registered with it to provide

a safer environment for students.

Under the initiative, all government and government-aided schools would have to manage six standard safety-related measures in the next few months, said ministry deputy director-general (education operation sector) Sufaat Tumin.

The measures are students’ safety during school activities, school security guards, school infrastructure, social ills, security during crises and disasters, and safety in the face of threats.

“Schools must pass an evaluation (by the ministry) to be labelled as safe,” he told the New Straits Times.

There will also be collaborations with parent-teacher associations (PTAs), principals, police, Welfare Department and People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela) in hot spots or areas with potential threats to students’ safety.

Sufaat said: “In these areas, volunteers will patrol or monitor school areas during peak hours.”

He said schools that could afford closed- circuit television (CCTV) systems would be encouraged to install them with the support of PTAs and security companies.

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