KUALA LUMPUR: Frustrated over criticism of Malaysia’s education standards, Education Minister II Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh said he was willing to put his job on the line in guaranteeing that the performance of Malaysian students in international assessment tests would improve this year.

Speaking to reporters at the Parliament lobby yesterday, Idris said he was confident that students would perform better in this year’s Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).

“I challenge you. I say that when the Pisa and TIMSS results come out this year, we will do better. I am giving this guarantee as a minister.

However, Idris declined to comment when asked what he would do should the next Pisa and TIMSS results show a decline instead of an improvement.

“This is the challenge. There is no ‘if not’. We are getting better. I guarantee we will do better than the previous results,” he said.

Opposition politicians and educationists have continued to hit out at Putrajaya over declining education standards, following the absence of Malaysian public universities from performance rankings and the below par performance of students in Pisa and TIMSS.

One of the biggest critics, DAP’s Zairil Khir Johari, recently said that the downward trend in education standards continued due to the government’s misplaced priorities, adding that the bulk of the education budget was channelled towards unnecessary projects.

This was after Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin expressed shock at the poor performance of Malaysian students in international assessment tests, despite the millions of ringgit spent on improving the education system.

He said the report of assessments like Pisa and TIMSS showed that the performance of Malaysian students was not up to par.

“The issue that we are facing, not only the ministry but also as an education minister, is why our education system is not as advanced as developed countries despite the huge funds being pumped into the education sector,” he said.

According to Pisa’s 2012 results, Malaysian students scored below average and ranked 52 out of the 65 countries. In contrast, students in Vietnam ranked 17 out of 65. Malaysia also ranked 39 out of 44 countries under Pisa’s first assessment on creative problem-solving, while neighbouring Singapore came out top.

In TIMSS 2011, Malaysia’s ranking in mathematics fell from 20 in 2007 to 26 in 2011 while its ranking in science dropped from 21 in 2007 to 32 in 2011.

The average mathematics score fell from 474 in 2007 to 440 and the average science score plunged from 471 in 2007 to 426 in 2011.

Earlier in the Dewan Rakyat, Idris said that Malaysian universities had made some gains in global assessments although they were young.

Replying to points raised by MPs debating the royal address, Idris said local institutions of higher learning are less than 50 years old, with the oldest among them — Universiti Malaya (UM) — is only 60.

Despite their relative youth, he said the institutions have moved upwards, citing the 2014 QS World Ranking, which ranked UM at 151, up from its 167th spot a year before.

Four other universities have also improved their positions, namely Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in 259th place (269 in 2013), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in 294th spot (355), Universiti Sains Malaysia in 309th position, and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) in 376th spot.

“Our universities are young. We need time. We are not as bad as stated. We are soaring upwards. Hopefully, by 2020, two of our universities will be placed in the top 100 in the world,” he said. — The Malaysian Insider

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 24, 2015.