There were a couple of searches on my web log on the terms “ite malay” recently.
Is it the time of the year when tertiary enrollment starts eh.
It’s been awhile since I’ve been out of school, so I wouldn’t know.
Well the keyword interest me, and I clicked the referral links attached to the log.
On Google, the term “ite malay“, well I’m #1 on the list! Muahaha, looks like I’m the unofficial poster boy for ITE Malays in Singapore!
Aside from stroking my ego with the earlier statement, the other referral links pointed out to me a few informative articles.
I want to share two in-fact, one by Mendaki, and the other Association of Muslims Professionals. I can’t reproduce the article it in whole here due to copyright, blah blah, but in whole, it’s about the improvement of education for us Malays. As below:
Mendaki
Summary : There is an increasing acceptance of ITE as a post-secondary option; as a bridge to the Polytechnic and ultimately, to the university.
How Malay/Muslim students can benefit from increase in vacancies in local university
- 1980: 5% are admitted
- 2001: 21%
- Target for 2010: 25%
- M/M students should take advantage of this expansion.
- Education should be the key agenda. Our community should not be distracted by individuals who have hidden political agenda.
- Only with sound/firm grounding in education, can we play a useful role in Singapore.
Popular courses in the ITE among Malay/Muslim students are:
- NTC2 in Multimedia Technology
- NTC2 in Info-Communication Technology
- 30% of students in these courses are Malay/Muslims despite these courses being introduced in the ITEs only last year (a good sign that they are enrolling in courses which will produce graduates in high demand).
- Other popular courses are:
- COS (Certificate of Office Skills)
- NTC2 in Automotive Technology & Electronics Engineering
Association of Muslims Professionals
SUCCESS IN school, it seems, does not happen as often for the Malay students as it does for the other races. The statistics speak for themselves. The Malays are seen to be lagging behind in foundational subjects such as Mathematics and Science, in the GCE ‘O’ Level passes to qualify for junior colleges or polytechnics and the proportionately lower enrolment in university.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his National Day Rally speech in 2007 has promised multiple pathways to success. Amongst these, he has promised higher local university intake up from the current 22% to 30%. With the addition of the fourth university, how has this been made more accessible for the Malay students? With the focus on engineering and design, the foundational subjects for which are Mathematics and Physics, the statistics does not seem to favour the cohort of Malay students.
One possible route is through the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) which offers a hands-on engineering course. Recently, the ITE has been given the educational standing it deserves for its curriculum and applicability. The next question to ask is whether the percentage of Malay ITE students who are admitted to the polytechnic courses and henceforth the university is substantial.
Personally for someone who did the ‘hard’ and long route from ITE and all the way to Uni, please for the love of God, wake your bloody idea in secondary school, don’t mess-up, and do well there.
Please do not waste your two years in ITE, when you could be in Poly by then, and finish your education faster, if you want to continue-on to Uni.
I’m not saying ITE education is bad, it has well equipped me with excellent foundation where I aced my studies during my Polytechnic years, but if possible try not to go to ITE lah. Even now, there’s still a stigma attach to such students, no matter what progress the media is saying.
And if you’re in ITE currently, well just study smart. Yes that’s the keyword. Prioritize, and always try to finish your tutorials within the same day, if not your homework will tend to pile-up, and you’ll just resign in frustration with the workload.
So be wise kids …
