1.

0 Introduction

When talking about education, most people nowadays would probably think about going
to school, completing assignments, furthering studies in local or foreign universities, and getting
a piece of paper of certificate acknowledging that we have learned and knew completely about
one particular field in learning. Truth is, education existed ever since the humans or homo
sapiens learn how to make fire. Now, ask yourself, were there any schools or universities at that
time? Education, as we understand it here, is a process of inviting truth and possibility, of
encouraging and giving time to discovery. In this view, educators look to act with people rather
on them (Smith, 2015). In a simple occasion where a father teaches his boy how to fish, that
can be also called that the father educates his boy on fishing. So, education happens every day
and everywhere around the world. The idea of democratisation in education existed since the
1600s. The idea that every person should have access to affordable education isn’t new—
Thomas Jefferson proclaimed it essential to any democratic nation (Britt, 2013). Hence,
Malaysia as a democratic country is also undergoing the process of democratisation of
education. Many efforts had been taken by the relevant authorities in Malaysia to democratize
the education in this prosperous nation.

2.0 The Government of Malaysia

The government is committed to democratising education and providing access and

equity to education so that everyone can benefit from it (C, 2013). Generally speaking, the
Malaysian government is doing everything in making the democratisation in education a reality.
The government is consistent in the emphasis on capacity building of human resource to uplift
the education in Malaysia so as to transform the country from an average to a great hub of
education and to achieve a developed country status. Other than building adequate educational
facilities, free education is also provided in primary and secondary schools. Apart from that,
assistances such as scholarship, free textbooks, and no hostel fee are also provided. Malaysia
under new regime, has comes up with the 1Malaysia book voucher worth RM200 in 2012 and
RM250 in 2013 has benefited 1.3 million students throughout the country. This is an effort that
can be seen and felt by Malaysian especially the students. The Welfare, Women and Family
Development Minister, Datuk Fatimah Abdullah said that The government is helping you to
achieve your dream by providing higher education loan, book vouchers, smart phone purchase
rebate and others. She also added that the government has always put the interest of the citizen
first, including the needs of our young people. Clearly, the Malaysian government has done a
great job in its effort to democratize the education in this nation.

On the other hand, the democratisation of basic education also contributed to the high
demand of tertiary education in Malaysia. The literacy rate in Malaysia, which stood at 93% in
2010, was among the highest when compared with other developing countries. The government
policies of widening the accessibility and equity of elementary education subsequently
increased the number of students from different backgrounds and the opportunity to pursue
higher education. Similar to other countries, various funding strategies and policy changes have
been adopted by the Malaysian authorities to ensure that the higher education sector operates
smoothly and effectively (Melissa Ng Lee Yen Abdullah, 2016). The method of funding the
higher institutions and students changed significantly with the introduction of PTPTN as an
education loan schemes. As the students and higher institutions quantity increases, the
government is burdened to develop this sector especially in financial term. As a result, PTPTN
was established in 1997 that offered loans to students studying in higher institutions but the
programmes entered must be accredited by the MQA. I will explain later on the MQA. Back to
the topic, PTPTN schemes has eased the burden of the government in developing higher
education in Malaysia financially.

To accommodate the globalization process especially in the education sector, the

government has to be alert and always changes the education policy from time to time in order
to meet the present and future demands. As evidence, in 1979, a report from the Special
Cabinet Committee chaired by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad was finalized after a six-year study. The
objectives were to achieve national unity in a multiethnic society besides increase the sense of
patriotism, to produce skilled manpower for national development and to further extend the
policy of democratization of education in order to strike a balance in all aspects of education
between rural and urban areas (Yusof, 1998). This significant report serves as a directive or
guideline for the development of the education system in the current years. The national
education philosophy also points out that it is essential to develop potential individuals who are
responsible and capable of achieving high level of personal well-being as well as being able to
contribute to the harmony and betterment of the family, the society and the nation at large. After
the Education Act in 1996 was enacted, preschool education has become one of the vital
components of the formal education system. It guarantees access of preschool education to all
children between the age of five and six in urban and rural area. Undoubtedly, this will
guarantee that the rural society will get the same opportunity as the urban society to develop
their social status by having quality education. Furthermore, the New Primary and Secondary
Education Curriculums have been introduced to focus on developing skilled and knowledge
manpower for the nation. We also can observe that such policy will be effectively implemented
through collaboration among races and also through enforcing it by legal binding (Yusof, 1998).
Apart from changing the education policy from time to time, the government is also trying to
narrow the gap of education in the rural and urban areas of the country. The urban students’
performance had showed an increase of 0.15 points from 4.68 points in 2012 to 4.83 points in
2013, while the performance of rural students had also increased by 0.16 points from 5.44
points in 2012 to 5.28 points last year (Rural-urban education gap narrowing — Muhyiddin,
2014). Evidently, we can see that the gap of education between the rural and urban areas is
narrowing as a result from the success of changing the education policy from time to time as
well as The Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2025.