Eradicate poverty, or develop human resource?

Our Dasar Ekonomi is to mengurangkan jurang antara yang kaya dengan yang miskin, dan membasmi kemiskinan. Our Pelan Induk Pendidikan is to membangunkan modal insan. How does the two go hand-in-hand together?

Theoretically, by membangunkan modal insan, we will equip more citizens to find jobs. Eventually, it will lead to membasmi kemiskinan.

Theoretically, that is.

There's this girl in my class. Let's call her J. She just became a prefect. But her grades are bad. Because she works everyday after school.

There's this other girl in my class. Let's call her N. She just became a prefect too. And her grades are just as bad. She works in a hand phone shop everyday after school.

There's another girl in my class. Let's call her U. Her grades are sad. She travels to KL after school everyday to help her parents at a traditional medicine shop.

I have a boy in my class. His grades are sad too. He works 3 times a day, loading and unloading cargo.

I have a girl in my class who got transferred out from my school. After a month, she came back. Her mum came to see me, asking me to allow her to join her classmates again. Her mum is a single parent. She has many children. She couldn't pay up her zakat. She just lost her house, electricity got cut, and water supply got cut. She got evicted. She doesn't have anyone who is big enough to take all of them in. So, her family is torn apart. Each of her children have to bunk in with other kind families at separate homes.

Poverty is a real problem. I see it everyday. It is important to ensure that our education system can effectively equip students to become wage-earners. Education is the only way to break the vicious cycle of poverty.

And how have we done that?

We have made public exams easier. Or lowered the passing grade. Notice how easily the 'As' come nowadays?

By doing that, we increase the number of people who can get a passing grade. Therefore, we churn out more SPM holders to the street. Does a bigger percentage of SPM holders become decent wage earners?

No. Because deep down inside, they know they are far from equipped.

Yes, we have "developed our human resource". We have produced more people who can pass public exams. We have churned out more degree holders than never before. But guess what. The problem of poverty is still there.

Why? Because we are merely fooling ourselves. Any employer from any reputable local company knows that a student's exam grade today may not truly reflect his intelligence. It gets worse overseas. Any employer from overseas sees our academic credentials as a twisted yardstick.

When you look at it critically, membasmi kemiskinan and membangunkan modal insan, in our context, cannot go hand-in-hand.

You wanna membasmi kemiskinan? Ok. Lower the standards of education. So more people can be employed locally. But that will mean our nation will become progressively under-developed. So much for membangunkan modal insan.

You wanna membangunkan modal insan? Ok. Raise the standards of education. So more people of real quality can contribute to society. But that will mean the poor will still remain poor, because they probably won't make it. So much for membasmi kemiskinan.

It's either one, or the other. We can't have it both ways.

Between membasmi kemiskinan and membangunkan modal insan... We have chosen the former.