Like many other countries in the world, Malaysia uses a diverse education system. Students go through pre-school education, primary, secondary, post-secondary, and eventually tertiary education. Parents can enroll their children in the public school system, which is free and equips learners with multilingual skills. They can also take them to private schools, or employ tutors for homeschooling. However, there is a significant gap in the perception and quality of education between rural and urban schools. Students that attend urban school have greater exposure to contemporary issues and information that aids in their academic pursuits. In 2015, about twenty percent of the Malaysian population lived in rural areas, meaning that a significant section of the children in the country receives substandard education (Worldometers, 2019). Therefore, the elimination of educational inequality between the rural and urban schools in Malaysia will significantly improve the country's industrial, commercial, and political sectors by having an evenly -educated population.
Schools in urban Malaysia have better access to academic resources than their rural counterparts. For example, many professionals, including teachers, prefer to work in schools in the cities since they will have access to various facilities and social amenities (Rahman et al., 1993). Therefore, rural schools are understaffed. The available teachers strain to cover all the requirements for the pupils. Often, they are unable to. They either have to brush over some aspects without addressing them with the right gravity or leave out some altogether (Malaysian Ministry, 2018). Also, proprietors of private schools set up their campuses in towns where the population is high. Therefore, it is difficult for a parent in the village to find a quality private school for their child. Sending them to schools in the city is difficult unless they are willing to send them to boarding schools.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Other than teachers, rural schools suffer from a shortage of recent reading materials. The government and non-governmental partners focus on equipping the schools in the cities (Ling, 2018). Again, the rationale behind their actions is that most of the students attend these schools. The children in rural areas, therefore, have to use worn-out books, sometimes even with outdated information. Consequently, it becomes difficult for such students to assimilate into the prevalent industrial job market in the country. While they may be knowledgeable, their content might be irrelevant.
Similarly, schools and homes in rural areas do not have internet access that is as reliable as that in the urban zones. Today, the internet is an invaluable source of academic information. Many new concepts, approaches, and data are available on a website much earlier before it gets printed onto books. Therefore, the over-reliance on books places the rural school-goers at a disadvantageous position (Marwan, Sumintono and Mislan, 2012). For example, consider a high school student working on a technological project using books from twenty years ago. The information they use will ancient, and they will spend so much time working on a concept that has probably been done and perfected since the book was printed (Zaremohzzabieh et al., 2016). The student’s progress, though admirable, will have been in vain.
The standards of living in cities are higher than those in rural areas. The parents have access to higher per capita income, and can, therefore, afford to spend more on their children's education than their rural counterparts. Some parents prefer to send their children to boarding schools or hire private tutors, all in the pursuit of academic quality. Also, the parents are willing to spend money on non-academic pursuits, such as theatre, sports, and art. The result is that their children are well-rounded. Conversely, in rural areas, the parents can only afford to take their children to public schools, since they are free. However, they do not have the revenue to spend on extra-academic pursuits for their children.
Similarly, the children in rural setups have to assist their parents in earning a livelihood. During weekends and holidays, the children help out in agriculture and the small-scale businesses that their parents operate. While there might be nothing wrong with the contribution from the children, they hardly have a moment to spare to revisit their school work, or even make new, independent strides in their education. In some extreme cases, they might also skip school to help out their parents, because if they do not, there might not be enough money to cover the basic family needs (Najumunisha and Selvaratnam, 2017).
Higher standards of living in urban areas relate to better physical infrastructure and social amenities. Outside the class set-up, the children in urban areas learn new and exciting ideas from the internet and television. The ideas broaden the children's thinking and understanding capacity (Rahman, 2014). They learn concepts that they might not have known of their existence. Their rural counterparts, however, have a much more unstimulating environment. They find little relevance to the concepts they learn in school and their applications in the world.
Many rural dwellers are conservative. They hold on to their traditional cultural and religious beliefs. While public awareness campaigns have helped alleviate the severity of the effects of the traditions on education, there is still a tangible impact even today (Abrizah and Ruslina, 2010). There was resistance to the education of girls in rural Malaysia. Many conservatives still held onto the notion that the education and empowerment of girls was a taboo. Many girls would, therefore, not attend school, and most that did would drop out due to pregnancies or marriage. City-dwellers, however, are mostly progressive. They understand the principles of gender equality. They, therefore, allow their children to pursue their academic goals, irrespective of their gender. Thus, as campaigners persuaded the rural parents to let their girls go to school, the female students in the urban areas were already achieving various academic milestones. Also, some rural communities disagree with some of the content taught in schools or the manner of delivery. For example, sex education is a contentious issue with this section of the Malaysian population. They consider the open discussion of topics such as sex to be an abomination. Therefore, some parents might end up pulling their children from school during the periods of such issues. The result is that the students do not acquire the boldness that they need to deal with social issues once they are adults. Such cases are, however, rare in the cities.
The cultural set up in urban areas exposes the children to various motivational factors. The progressive nature of life facilitates the children to learn about concepts, and some end up with the motivation to pursue those fields. For example, non-formal sex education might interest a student in pursuing medicine so that they can specialize as gynecologists. Therefore, culture plays a significant role in the establishment of the disparity of education between rural and urban schools.
A progressive academic environment motivates students to pursue lofty goals. However, factors such as economic inadequacies, the lack of tertiary education, as well as political and civil unrest, makes it difficult for them to achieve those goals. Scholarships, therefore, come in handy. Due to the prevailing structures in urban Malaysia, the teachers, children, and parents learn of such opportunities in time. The students, therefore, get the opportunities to further their studies in the top institutions in the country, and overseas (Chang et al., 2015). Also, tertiary students apply for grants to pursue projects that are meant to solve a problem in society. Unfortunately, such information is hard to come by in rural areas. Usually, due to the lack of motivation among the students and their parents, the schools hardly pursue such opportunities. The children do not even know of their existence. Once finances become a challenge to the pursuit of tertiary education, they fall into the non-progressive life of the village.
Pursuing academic scholarships requires some essential competencies from the applicants. One such skill is language proficiency. Usually, such a requirement is not a challenge to a student who received their education in modern urban institutions. However, a rural student can have the mental acuity to pursue a demanding discipline such as engineering but lack the necessary language skills (Singh, 2015). Therefore, such a candidate does not qualify for the scholarship. Thus, the opportunities remain with urban students, further increasing the gap between education in the villages and the cities.
The inequality in the education system in Malaysia is evident. Urban students are at an advantage compared to their rural counterparts. Therefore, there is a need for various partners of Malaysian education to take action that will mitigate the situation. The more crucial stakeholder is the government. The provision of free education in public schools and subsidization of tertiary education has been a step in the right direction by the government (Ahmad and Abdul-Hakim, 2019). However, eliminating the fees does not level the playing field. The government, through the ministry of education, must continuously invest in the education of the rural and unprivileged population. For example, the ministry can ensure that schools have modern books. The children would, therefore, stop relying on the outdated content of old books. Similarly, the provision of internet facilities within the schools will not only widen the knowledge base of the students, but it will expose them to disciplines and concepts of which they would have otherwise not heard. The government can also offer incentivized packages to teachers that work in rural areas. The incentives that would include salaries, tax reliefs, or sponsorships for their children, would attract more professionals to rural regions. Therefore, there would be more teachers available to offer quality education. Besides, the government can create conducive conditions for proprietors that start private schools in rural areas. Such conditions include equipping with books, and probably a few teachers employed by the government. Therefore, private schools would not charge exorbitant fees. Also, they could offer scholarships to rural students. Such measures by the government would drastically improve education in the villages. Therefore, the government has a crucial role to play in the bridging of the gap between urban and rural education.
Non-governmental institutions in Malaysia can also play a critical role in the improvement of education in rural regions. For instance, they can start and run awareness campaigns to educate the parents on the significance of the current education system in their lives. They can address issues that conflict with their cultural and religious beliefs. The success of the campaigns would be the willingness of the parents to prioritize the education of their children. Also, they would be able to assess the quality of education and launch complaints independently. Therefore, the schools would be accountable for the academic progression of their students, something that is currently lacking in rural schools. Moreover, the campaigns would enlighten the parents on their roles in the academic excellence of their children. They would learn that sending them to school is not enough and that their regular participation in their children's academic activities will hugely motivate them to excellence. The non-governmental bodies can also hire professionals that aid in the academic lives of the rural students. For example, social workers could offer services to children, such as career advice. They would also participate in local activities to gain the trust of the residents. Through cooperation, social workers would slowly improve the perception of education among the locals. Therefore, both parents and children would be motivated to pursue education to the very top standards. Beyond academics, organizations can create a campaign for non-academic educational pursuits such as sports. The villagers would have the opportunity to see their children develop into top athletes, thespians, and artists. The education in the rural areas would, therefore, be all-rounded, with every student getting an opportunity to pursue their passions, whether academic or not.
Finally, the government and private stakeholders can work together on improving the chances of tertiary education for rural students. The first step would be availing information on scholarships and grants to high school graduates. The greatest challenged for the rural students is knowing of such opportunities in time. Therefore, the provision of such information at their schools would result in more applications from rural schools. They would get the chance to pursue professional disciplines at a minimal cost. Also, the academic partners can offer tutelage sessions on various proficiency skills that are tested during the application process. Languages and general communication skills are some of the popular competencies (Suliman and Yunus, 2014). Professionals would coach the students on how to express themselves during tests and interviews. Since the general level of education should have improved due to the other measures, the coaching would not be as difficult as it would be today. Also, the partners can organize career open-days in rural schools. During such events, the students would learn about professional pursuits of which they were unaware. In the global job market, there are new roles that are regularly emerging (Hirschi, 2018). The students, therefore, need to learn about them. Career coaches and people who are pursuing such professions can assist the stakeholders in the process. Such people should have the capacity to relate to the students. They should explain in detail what their careers entail, and how one can earn such opportunities. They would be role models that would motivate the students to pursue professional excellence. The parents would also get the chance to learn about the prospective careers that their children would pursue. They would be advised to support them mentally and emotionally. Also, parents, even literate ones, tend to decide the professional choices of their children unfairly. While, in some instances, such decisions prove to be useful, the children might end up not completing their studies since that is not where their passion lies. The careers open day would provide an opportunity for the experts to advise the parents not to force their children into the jobs they would wish them to pursue. Instead, they would learn to respect and appreciate the choices their children would make.
Education in Malaysia exhibits a significant disparity between rural and urban institutions. The gap is a result of the differences in the culture, economic status, political and social awareness, and availability of relevant resources. All these challenges make their contribution in suppressing rural education while enhancing the urban academic establishment. Various parties are involved in education in Malaysia, such as the government and non-governmental institutions. These stakeholders can improve education in rural schools without compromising the quality of urban institutions. Some of the efforts include the provision of the necessary academic resources, the creation of public awareness on the current education system, and the provision of information about scholarships and grants for tertiary education. The plans for these steps ought to be meticulously laid out and executed, such that there are tangible results at the end. The country can claim to have succeeded in providing educational equality when rural students have equal opportunities in pursuing tertiary education and professions.
References
Abrizah, A., and Ruslina A. (2010). Systemic Barriers: The Challenges in the Provision of Inclusive School Libraries in Malaysia. Malaysian Journal of Library & Information Science , 15(2), 19-40.
Ahmad, N., Ismail, R., & Abdul-Hakim, R. (2019). Higher Education Subsidy in Malaysia: The Benefit Incidence Analysis. Journal of Islamic, Social, Economics, and Development (JISED), 4(25), 72 – 84.
Chang, D. W., Chapman, D. W., Zain, A. N., Hutcheson, S., Lee, M., and Austin, A. E. (2015). Academic Culture in Malaysia: Sources of Satisfaction and Frustration. Asia Pacific Education Review , 16(4), 517-526.
Hirschi, A. (2018). The Fourth Industrial Revolution: Issues and Implications for Career Research and Practice. The Career Development Quarterly , 66(3), 192-204.
Ling, S. (2018). Greater Priority for Rural Schools. Retrieved November 16, 2019, from https://www.thestar.com.my/metro/metro-news/2018/07/28/greater-priority-for-rural-schools-additional-allocations-and-best-teachers-should-go-to-disadvantag .
Malaysian Ministry of Education. (2018). Quick Facts 2018: Malaysian Educational Statistics . Putrajaya: Educational Planning and Research Division.
Marwan, A., Sumintono, B., and Mislan, N. (2012). Revitalizing Rural Schools: Lesson from Others. Educational Issues, Research, and Policies , 1(1), 1-3.
Najumunisha, A. J., and Selvaratnam, D. P. (2017). Analysis of the Determinants of Education Expenditures in Malaysia. Journal of International Business, Economics, and Entrepreneurship , 2 (1), 1-10.
Rahman, A. B., Nor, S., Mokhtar, H. H., and Halimi, F. (1993). Teachers in Rural Primary Schools: A Study of Their Perceptions on Teacher Preparation, School Environment, and Parental Involvement. Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities , 1(1), 27-40
Rahman, A. R. (2014). Malaysia’s Ministry of Education Bridges the Urban-Rural Digital Divide with Virtual Desktops . Burnaby: Teradici Corporation.
Singh, M. K. M. (2015). International Graduate Students' Academic Writing Practices in Malaysia: Challenges and Solutions. Journal of International Students , 5(1), 12-22.
Suliman, A., and Yunus, M. (2014). The Re-Introduction of English Literature Subject in Malaysian Secondary Schools: Urban versus Rural Teachers. Journal of Education and Human Development 3(2), 943-955.
Worldometers. (2019). Malaysia Demographics. Retrieved November 16, 2019, from https://www.worldometers.info/demographics/malaysia-demographics/#urb .
Zaremohzzabieh, Z., Samah, B.A., Muhammad, M., Omar, S.Z., Bolong, J. and Shaffril, H.A.M. (2016). An investigation into Factors Influencing Rural Youth Entrepreneurs’ Intentions to use ICT: A Case of Malaysia. International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business , 27(4), 480–504.
