119
teacher salary did not appear to be a major issue during our discussion with stakeholders.
Therefore, the reasons for the lack of teacher motivation needs to be better understood.
Fifth, better needs-based targetting of funds to primary schools should be prioritized. Our
review of the evidence suggests that quality education is not about resource availablity per se.
Malaysia already spends a lot on education. Our regression analysis also confirms that there is
little return in further lowering student-teacher ratio by hiring more teachers. Yet lack of
facilities and funding were highlighted as greater obstacles to quality education in primary
school compared to secondary school. During fieldvisits, stakeholders reported lack of facilities
in rural, remote locations. The key challenge is to conduct credible needs assessment,
specifically targeting under-performing schools and perform diagnostics analysis to guide
investment needs. The latter is critical for avoiding further investment in inputs such as
reducing class size, which according to our evidence, is unlikely to improve learning outcomes
in Malaysian context.
Sixth, initiatives and programs should be targetted to parents to increase their involvement in
school activities. Lack of parental involvement was identified as one of the commonly perceived
barriers in secondary education. The lack of parental pressure on academic standards was also
found to be negatively associated with student performance in PISA. This is particularly an issue
for children who belong to economically poor parents. At the same time, parents in rural areas
more often than not have no choice and time for involvement owing to working shifts; they also
lack confidence in being involved. Innovative schemes that incentivize their participation (e.g.
public recognition of positive efforts, monthly luncheons in school for all parents, in-kind gifts
that partly compensate for their time and so on) can be developed with sponsorship from local
non-state actors such as private companies and NGOs.