Monday 27 August 2018

Suggestion to Ministry of Education Malaysia: The syllabus "Sustainable Living skills" as Replacement for "Living Skills" in Primary and Secondary School Syllabus.

I've earlier on wrote to Ex-Education Minister& ex-PM on the matter. Since Malaysia is one of the member of UN Sustainability Goals and pledged to cut down 40% of GHG emission thus we should inculcate the green culture as early as preschool to working adult.

Education is the best place to begin with as the very purpose of education is to prepare the next generation for the future thus the syllabus must relevant to the projected scenario of the future, including the climate, economy and society. The draft is only a preliminary however the expected outcome is not merely transfer skills of Sustainability practical for daily living but also to instill passion for professional skills as well as awareness of it. The scope of the proposed syllabus may subject to your discretion however I would like to highlight that some of the module is less explicit than it may seems. For example, there are several module focus on chicken life cycle from chicken coop, hatchery to taking care of it but embedded within is the knowledge of architecture (design& construction of chicken coop to requirements i.e. space requirements, feeds, lighting, security against predator), science (life cycle of bird. In Japan primary student were taught to observe chicken hatched from glass shell), mathematics, medics& etc. Chicken or ducks in the Sustainable living skills syllabus also complement with the free meal program. Eggs that student's chicken produce will partially use for next batch of student but mostly will use as food for their free meal program. This will assure low cost to maintain the free school meal program while act as education materials. Student also expected to cook themselves thus assure they appreciate their food. This will inculcate appreciation of food culture and reduce food waste tremendously. 40% of KL solid waste consist of organic waste which can be eliminated if people don't buy unnecessary and do composting or convert it to biogas. Kuala Lumpur alone produce more than. 3500tones of solid waste per day. Imagine the cost saving if people practice sustainable lifestyle and better still, doing composting and biogas actually generate income from waste while reduce GHG (GreenHouse Gas)emission. Using chicken as learning materials can reflect on real life what should property buyer expect building. Compliance to UBBL is not very much adhere to especially after obtain CF.

As of 2015, 85% of budget hotel in KL do not comply with bomba requirements which is very dangerous because tenant are expected to be unfamiliar with the surrounding, making escape during fire become a big question. By designing chicken coop, students will be taught what define a free range chicken, minimum space for caged chicken and cage free chicken also reflect the basic design requirements for human. Water and feeds requirements also reflect on human needs for the same and at the same time observe how student perform in taking care of the animals. Of course, to reduce food waste, others courses such as food preservation can be introduced.

Others module teach student in water conservation, energy saving, prudent in diet (food selection based on nutrient content and food miles), indoor air quality, responsibility toward own body and knowledge in sexual orientation, respecting others religious & custom believe&etc.

It is worth highlight that the syllabus should be a profit driven where student able to sell their produce and revenue generated is to offset the cost of certain module such as robotic (using Arduino or Microbits) or field trip in overseas. Recycle plastic to make into new plastic products such as gasing, comb&chairs and be cooperate with student learning website design and marketing so that they can put into use the skills in real life. Of course, all student expected to go through all courses and learn everything although not every student may develop interest at everything or good at everything but surely I provide an insight of what their future career may be. 


The YouTube page above show how to recycle plastic. It's fun and easy. Free school meal program proven encourage student attendance rate and is now happening in Japan, USA and even India. The hands on "sustainable living" skills will supplement the free meal program as well as itself (self-sustaining) and possibly generate extra income for the student. Education Ministry need to allocate the module hours into primary and secondary education as well as budget to kick start it. Whether the module relevant or not, I'm confident at least 70% is relevant. Developed country like UK& USA started learn Microbus 3 years ago. Singapore started 2years ago. Website coding such as HTML, CSS& JavaScript is taught in most advanced country from Europe, Australia, Japan, Korea, China and Singapore. Food production like growing crops is taught in UK, Europe, USA, Japan and most of Malaysia private school. To be competitive, student is expected to showcase how they compete their works in social media such as upload to YouTube or vimeo. There's rules and requirements but no specific ways to complete their module thus allow them to design and create new things. If necessary, school may help them copyright or patent their works for commercial use. Video of their works uploaded in YouTube may be selected as national best and rewarded. Good example also can be reference for future batch as well as world audience. I belief we should make use of our human capital at their best time. The time that they have creativity and not after brainwashed by society and dogmatized. Refer to ticket ID MOE.025794, feedback previously. The link for digital textbook is as follow: https://www.researchgate.net/
publication/282851329_Digital_Textbook_Program_in_Malaysia_Lessons_from_South_Korea

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Maybank (Malaysia)account number : 1643 1529 3268 (Tay Kian Guan)

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