KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 14 — Former Youth and Sports Minister Syed Sadiq Abdul Rahman today said Malaysia’s educational curriculum is three years behind Singapore’s.

Citing the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), he said a 15-year-old Malaysian student’s understanding of certain subjects such as mathematics and science is equivalent to a 12-year-old Singaporean student.

“Based on the Pisa report, why are our educational outcomes still lagging behind? The report shows that 15-year-old (Malaysian) students’ understanding of mathematics and science is lower than that of just 12-year-olds in Singapore. It shows that they are three years behind compared to children in the United States,” he told the Dwan Rakyat newspaper today.

In addition to that, he also elaborated on how middle-income parents, regardless of racial background, want to invest a little more of their money and enroll their children in private schools.

He said public school teachers are burdened with many responsibilities, including administrative work and other duties, which makes it difficult for them to focus on their primary job.

“Secondly, we also need to ensure that the syllabus system follows the modernization of world civilization,” he added.

He said education issues need to be prioritized as it leads to class disparity between the rich and the poor in terms of access to quality education.

“We therefore need to dare to think outside the box and have the moral and political courage to overhaul our education system,” he said.

Last year, former education minister Datuk Mohd Raj Md Jidin said Malaysia’s education system was stagnant due to unwillingness to change, allowing other countries to overtake Malaysia in terms of education.