SHAH ALAM, Oct 22 — The state government has launched the Selangor Madani Education Conference to formulate policies that strengthen the state’s education ecosystem, said Menteri Besar Dato' Seri Amirudin Shari.
He said that in addition to implementing new policies, the initiative also focuses on school safety issues, which have become a growing concern among the public.
“It will involve a wider range of stakeholders so that we can examine education issues more comprehensively, from educational content to safety and other related matters.
“This conference follows the Education Reform Forum, and going forward, we will engage several more target groups until we succeed in developing policies and programmes that can empower the education ecosystem in Selangor,” he said.
Amirudin was speaking after officiating the 'Education Reform and Contemporary Challenges: With Direction or Without?' forum, organised by the state government at the Raja Tun Uda Library today.
Meanwhile, he said the spirit of togetherness practised during the Covid-19 pandemic should serve as a lesson in addressing issues within the national education system.
Amirudin stressed that education is a shared responsibility that must be driven holistically at all levels, including the government, educational institutions, and the community.
“The Covid-19 pandemic brought about a major paradigm shift. During that period, we adopted the ‘whole-of-society approach’, where everyone worked together to solve problems.
“Now, we are witnessing one incident after another involving school students. Once again, people are talking about schools, just as they talked about hospitals during the pandemic.
“If we can shift our paradigm in the same way, education reform will achieve meaningful success and significant outcomes. This is an important lesson we sometimes forget from our experience during the pandemic,” he said.
The Menteri Besar also emphasised that the responsibility of nurturing knowledgeable and virtuous individuals cannot rest solely on schools, but must be shared by parents, the community, and leaders at all levels.
“When parents are busy earning a living and politicians are preoccupied with their own affairs, we may not realise that we have placed an enormous burden on schools to shape the next generation,” Amirudin said.
The forum was moderated by Selangor Student Development Secretariat Head Mohd Hidayat Mohd Sauffi, and featured Batu Tiga state assemblyman Danial Al-Rashid and the National Union of the Teaching Profession's (NUTP) president Aminuddin Awang.
Also present were former Malaysian Youth Council president Senator Jufitri Joha, and Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) vice-chancellor, Prof Dato Md Amin Md Taff.
The forum made Selangor the first state in Malaysia to host discussions involving various experts to assess the challenges and direction of the current education system.
It was also attended by lecturers and students from various educational institutions, including Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM), who helped enliven the session.
