Did We Need To Spend RM270 Million To Train Our English Teachers? Are They That Bad?

Putrajaya earned flak from its critics in the opposition recently when it was revealed that foreign consultancy McKinsey & Co had been paid a staggering RM20,556,400 fee to draw up the National Education Blueprint 2013-2025.

The three consultancy firms have been contracted from 2011 to 2013 at a total cumulative cost of RM268.5 million, or RM89.5 million a year.

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The three handpicked consultant firms - British Council, Brighton Education Grpup and SMR HR Group - are each tasked to provide a total of 360 trainers or “English speaking mentors” over the three-year period, he said.

The parliamentary reply further states that a total of 7,500 teachers from 1,800 schools will be trained, with the responsibilities divided geographically.

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The British Council has been tasked to provide mentors to train teachers in Labuan, Sabah and Sarawak, while Brighton Education Group will train teachers in Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Malacca, Johor and Negeri Sembilan. Meanwhile, SMR HR Group will train teachers in Penang, Perlis, Perak, Kedah and Selangor.

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On top of that, based on ground reports and feedback received from teachers undergoing the programme, it would appear that the “mentoring” they receive ranges from only three to four hours a month.

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This immediately brings into question the efficacy of the mentoring programme, as how is anyone expected to master a language, or any subject for that matter, with only three to four hours’ worth of training a month.

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While the objective of improving the quality of English-language teachers is admirable and should be pursued, there is absolutely no justification for MOE’s penchant for hiring overpaid consultants, especially when cheaper and better options are readily available.

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The same sum, Zairil pointed out, was starkly higher than what it would cost to enrol the same teacher into a properly-structured English language degree programme in a local university.

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For example, Wawasan Open University offers a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in English Studies at a total cost of about RM24,000, which is two-thirds the cost of the mentoring programme currently provided by the consultancy firms. Meanwhile, a six-month diploma course in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) would cost only RM4,500 at a local private college.

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“In other words, close to RM270 million is being spent to hire 360 English mentors. This breaks down to RM250,000 a year for each mentor, or an extravagant sum of almost RM21,000 a month,” the Bukit Bendera MP said in a statement here.

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“Furthermore, the total expenditure of RM270 million to train 7,500 teachers is equivalent to RM36,000 per teacher over three years,” he said.

“No matter what explanation MOE gives, there is no way they can justify the absurd amount of money being spent to provide what is essentially a three-years paid working-holiday to 360 native English mentors,” he said.

Another DAP federal lawmaker Ong Kian Ming, when weighing in on the controversy, said the government had unnecessarily squandered taxpayers monies by hiring McKinsey & Co, pointing out that the firm’s staff are not education specialists but merely general management consultants.

“Surely the PMO could have utilised its many capable resources within the Ministry and Pemandu to prepare this National Education Blueprint? “Why waste RM20 million on employing expensive management consultants?” the Serdang MP asked in a recent statement.

He also said that this would further cast doubt on the Ministry of Education’s ability to issue a “transparent and accountable” annual report of its progress in implementing the NEB.