LETTER | There are many successful models of education being developed by other countries.

Japan has its own success stories. So does Singapore, New Zealand, Australia and all the Nordic countries.

But that does not mean that for Malaysia to re-invent the wheel on education, it has to adopt one of those models.

This is the opportune time to formulate a new recipe, at the time our educational system is in complete limbo.

So much damage has been inflicted and it is time for the entire system to be overhauled. Or else, the national education will be a nuisance to the nation-building and to the national prosperity.

But nevertheless, we can take into consideration all those successful models to formulate our very own and unique educational system.

Ours has to be completely different from all those models, simply because the ingredients we have are different in nature.

First and foremost, the essential ingredient is our political system.

Under the present political climate, regardless of which party governs the nation, the general composition of the ruling coalition party shall remain the same, they are composite in nature.

Even if BN were to win back the government and Umno is the majority, its voice is still as weak as the minority of Bersatu in Pakatan Harapan.

That is how unique the politics in Malaysia is and yet these ruling parties are regarded as the sole determinant in shaping the future of our education.

The political institutions are the ones that abuse the national unity agenda in the search for political popularity for themselves.

Hence, the only window left to repair these damage is via education.

Sad to say, too little opportunity is being created for nation-building by the education system, just because the hands that damage national unity are the same hands that control the educational agenda - the politicians.

Assuming they are willing to compromise for the sake of our future generation, the education system has a tall order to squeeze into the already packed educational curriculum, the formal subjects or courses on nation-building.

But that is not the end of the problem. The characters of students enrolling into various types of schooling system are as diverse as their racial or religious polarisation already in existence.

Most parents, especially among the B40 community, are poor in their parenting skills and culture.

As such, they expect the school to play an important role in shaping and disciplining their children.

Again, this factor is another burden to the schooling system.

This is a complete contrast of the parenting culture of parents of those developed nations mentioned earlier.

In their case, the children go to school with a set of mind and character fully prepared by their parents.

Indeed, in the Malaysian education system, this is another high expectation on the part of the parents which burdens the educational system. What a pity.

Only when the character building burden is resolved that we can expect the teachers to have the time and energy to teach, guide, groom and impart knowledge to the students, which is the knowledge-building process.

But at the higher level of education, especially at the tertiary and post-education stages, education and training are not just a process of completing the learning curve.

The icing of the process is the talent building.

Here are the challenges to those who run the technical and vocational learning centres as well as the other tertiary and post-educational institutions.

Their challenges are to create, develop and groom talents.

The survival of the fittest in the future will be among those equipped with sufficient talents, including talent in acquiring and managing the technology.

Hence, the real and practical challenges in formulating our very own educational recipe are to blend these four main ingredients into one menu, namely the nation-building, the character building, the knowledge building and finally, the talent building.

The rest of the issues such as the debate on Malay vs English as the medium of learning, the introduction of several more second languages, Jawi writing and others are the spices that will make the recipe tastier.

The writer is the secretary-general of Majlis Perundingan Melayu.