Malaysia’s education warning bell cannot be ignored

We talk endlessly about becoming a high-income economy, a regional digital hub and an Industry 4.0 nation.

We want AI, automation, robotics, smart manufacturing, semiconductors, biotechnology, the green economy and data-driven government. We have no shortage of plans or slogans.

But the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa 2025) report raises a question our leaders keep avoiding: are we building the human capacity to carry Malaysia forward, or watching the foundation crumble?

The findings are alarming.

Only 35% of Malaysian students reached baseline proficiency in mathematics, compared with 65% across the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). In reading, the figure was 44% versus 69%. In science, 54% versus 74%.

These are the young Malaysians who will soon manage money, interpret health information, judge online claims, sign contracts and enter a labour market already being reshaped by AI.

We cannot claim to be ready for the Fourth Industrial Revolution when most teenagers have not mastered basic mathematics, reading and science.

This is not about turning every child into a scientist or coder. It is about ensuring every young person has the numeracy, literacy and critical-thinking skills needed to function in a modern economy.

But we are moving backwards.

Since 2018, Malaysian students’ proficiency in mathematics, reading and science has fallen by 20 to 24 percentage points.

Pisa does not measure everything. It cannot capture character or creativity. But dismissing it because the results are uncomfortable would be a mistake.

The assessment tests whether students can apply knowledge to real problems, reason through unfamiliar questions and communicate clearly — precisely the skills a knowledge economy needs.

What makes the results even harder to explain is that Malaysian students want to learn.

Eighty percent describe themselves as curious, compared with 73% across the OECD. Seventy-nine percent say they push harder when work gets difficult, compared with 60%. Only 7% consider school a waste of time, compared with 24% across the OECD.

So why are the outcomes so weak?

The failure is not theirs. It is the system’s.

Are we teaching students to think, or to memorise model answers? Are mistakes treated as part of learning, or something to fear? Do assessments reward understanding or just the ability to reproduce an expected text? And are teachers given the training, time and respect to teach differently?

We have avoided these questions for too long.

The lack of top performers is another warning sign. Only 0.5% reached the highest science levels and 0.6% the top mathematics levels. Almost none reached the highest reading band. OECD averages are 7%, 8% and 6%.

Malaysia needs a broad base of competence — but also exceptional minds capable of building tomorrow’s industries. We cannot keep importing talent while failing to develop enough of our own.

Then there is inequality.

Advantaged students outscored disadvantaged students by 82 points in science. Socioeconomic background accounted for 16% of the performance gap, compared with 12% across the OECD.

A child’s future should not depend on family income, postcode or internet access. Talent exists in every kampung, estate, flat, longhouse and fishing village. Every child we fail is potential talent we lose.

The learning environment matters too. Thirty-two percent of students attend schools where principals say infrastructure problems disrupt teaching. Twenty-seven percent report being bullied regularly, compared with 20% across the OECD.

And AI is already in the classroom.

Fifty-six percent of Malaysian students use AI chatbots for learning at least weekly, compared with 46% across the OECD.

The question is no longer whether AI belongs in education. It is whether students can question its answers, detect its errors and resist outsourcing their thinking to it.

Giving students AI without first strengthening their reading and reasoning skills risks producing a generation that can generate fluent answers without knowing whether they are true.

Malaysia needs a national education recovery plan with measurable targets, public accountability and consequences for failure.

Foundational literacy and numeracy must be strengthened from the earliest years. Teachers need sustained professional development. Disadvantaged schools need targeted support, not simply equal funding.

Parents must be partners. Employers should have a voice in the skills we develop. Universities cannot be expected to repair foundations that schools failed to build.

Above all, political leaders must stop treating education as speech material.

Pisa 2025 is a warning. Malaysia’s future will not be built by slogans, gadgets or glossy policy documents.

It will be built — or lost — in our classrooms.

Our children are not the failure. They are the evidence of what the system has delivered.

Authorities must accept the facts and act with urgency.

And please, dear parliamentarians: wake up.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.

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