A Level Playing Field

Addressing Educational Inequity with Teach For Malaysia

Written By Murdock O’Mooney

Teachers are important. Being an educator myself, my opinion is an obvious bias, but good teachers inspire us to think critically about the world we live. They also lead by example helping students consider where they want to be in the future and more importantly, create tangible plans for getting there.

Teach for Malaysia (TFM) embraces this lead-by-example model and places high-achieving college graduates in under-achieving schools. TFM is a non-profit organization launched in 2010 aimed at helping balance Malaysia’s educational inequity. While educational inequity varies across contexts, it can generally be thought of as the difference in results, or efficacy, as experienced by students from different groups. Grades, standardized test scores and college registration statistics usually determine educational efficacy. Inequity perpetuates social and economic inequality meaning students from disadvantaged backgrounds tend to achieve less and remain in poverty.

In the global context, educational inequity is widespread. According 100people.org (an educational website run by academics), if the world were represented by 100 people, roughly 65 percent of the world would have higher than secondary education, 17 percent would be illiterate and only 7 percent would have a college education. TFM seeks to address educational inequity in Malaysia’s most disadvantaged schools, by exposing students to passionate, high-achieving teachers who push education beyond the classroom. One student said that thanks to his TFM teacher he now knows who can help [him], and what he needs to get there [future goal]. As the name implies, TFM is modeled after Teach for America and the UK’s Teach First and seeks to one day “give all children in Malaysia the opportunity to attain an excellent education.”

To learn more, I sat down with former TFM intern Jonathan Dason. Jonathan is a student at the University of Malaysia Sarawak currently studying at Chonnam National University. Between bites of kimbap, Jonathan tells me that 4 out of 5 working Malaysians have only a secondary education and the heads of 3 out of 5 poor households have a primary school education or less. Only 15 percent of Malaysians have just attended some form of tertiary education institution. Furthermore, Malaysia’s educational system lags behind other member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). For example, 60 percent of Malaysian students fail to meet state minimum standards for mathematics (22 percent OECD average), 43 percent fail to meet standards in science (compared to 18 percent OECD average) and 44 percent fail to meet standards in reading (19 percent OECD average).

“It’s about providing tangible role models,” Jonathan tells me as we discuss TFM’s strategy in addressing these statistics. Jonathan believes the Malaysian educational system needs systemic change, and that often Education Ministers are too far removed from the problems facing underachieving schools. Jonathan envisions former TFM fellows ascending to important positions within the Ministry of Education, and with their experiential knowledge, helping initiate positive change and ultimately reducing Malaysia’s educational inequity.

Disconnects between the needs of disadvantaged students and government educational entities is a common theme in the conversation surrounding educational inequity. Jonathan recognizes that while organizations like TFM are making strides addressing educational inequity, large-scale reform requires change at multiple levels and will likely take some time.

Malaysian Ministry of Education funds the TFM and has corporate sponsors such as Google, Shell, Pearson, DHL and the CIMB Foundation among others. However, private donations are becoming an increasingly more important funding source. As TFM is a non-profit, donations qualify as tax write-offs in most countries. You can donate, and find more information about the organization at redcampaign.my or teachformalaysia.org/donate.

Jonathan reminds me that TFM is always seeking new teaching fellows saying, “if you are Malaysian and about to graduate college, you should consider [applying].” Application and organizational information can be found at teachformalaysia.org and on Facebook at facebook.com/teachformalaysia/. Jonathan is unsure if he will apply to be a TFM fellow after he graduates, but says it’s a very real possibility.