(Nov 16): DAP today questioned the rationale behind the decision to slashing by almost half an allocation for teacher development, saying it was against Putrajaya's education blueprint.

Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari said that the allocation for teacher development was cut from RM1.5 billion in 2014 to RM783 million in Budget 2016 unveiled by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak last month.

Zairil, who called the reduction "disconcerting", said that the quality of teachers was identified as a "critical" aspect of the education blueprint.

"If the quality of teachers has been identified as such a critical aspect of our education system, why is less instead of more being invested in them," he said in a statement today.

He said this went against the "grain" of the education blueprint, which stated that "the quality of teachers to be the most significant determinant in school based outcomes".

In-service training was the most affected, slashed by 84% from RM410 million to only RM65 million in 2016.

Leadership training was also drastically cut, from RM181 million in 2014 to RM69 million for next year.

"It is simply confounding that teacher development has been so drastically cut," he said.

Putrajaya also slashed the budget allocation next year for the Education Ministry.

"The significant cut will mainly affect institutions of higher learning, with 19 out of 20 universities set to see budgetary shortfalls up to 27 percent from the year before," he said. – The Malaysian Insider