By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Jan 28: The recent controversy surrounding the federal government’s education policy, including its swift reversal on early Year One entry requirements, has once again underscored why Sarawak must be given greater autonomy over its education system.
Saya Anak Sarawak founder Peter John Jaban said the episode, which saw policies announced and partially scrapped within days, was not merely an administrative error but a symptom of a deeper failure of Malaysia’s highly centralised education governance to understand and accommodate Sarawak’s realities.
“The rapid policy U-turn reflects a serious disconnect between Putrajaya and the lived conditions of children, parents and educators in Sarawak,” he said in a statement, adding that decisions affecting millions of students were made without sufficient consultation or proper ground assessment.
Peter John emphasised that Sarawak’s call for greater autonomy in education is neither new nor unreasonable, but firmly rooted in the spirit and intent of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), which recognised Sabah and Sarawak as equal partners in the formation of Malaysia and entitled them to special safeguards in governance and administration.
“Education, as the foundation of nation-building, must be one of those safeguarded areas,” he said.
He stressed that greater autonomy does not mean rejecting national standards or fragmenting the education system, but allowing Sarawak the authority to adapt policies, prioritise infrastructure, design support systems and implement timelines that reflect local realities.
“It means empowering local educators and administrators who understand the terrain, culture and challenges far better than distant policymakers,” he added.
Peter John said centralised policymaking has repeatedly failed Sarawak’s children, with the recent policy reversal being only the most visible example.
“If the federal government is serious about equity, unity and genuine reform, it must recognise that uniformity is not fairness,” he said, adding that Sarawak deserves the space to shape its own education policies not as an act of defiance, but as an act of responsibility to its children and future generations.
He noted that the controversy was not confined to political disagreement, but had become a public issue that directly affected parents, teachers and students nationwide.
“Concerns were first raised by the public and education stakeholders, reflecting genuine anxieties about fairness, readiness and implementation,” he said, pointing out that the government’s reversal showed the issue extended beyond partisan politics.
Peter John said Sarawak’s circumstances are fundamentally different from those in Peninsular Malaysia, citing geography, infrastructure gaps and socio-economic conditions.
“Many schools are located in remote areas accessible only by rivers or logging roads. Some still lack clean water and reliable electricity, with certain schools operating solely on generators,” he said, adding that other schools face shortages of classrooms and teachers.
“Children in these communities already face extraordinary barriers just to attend school,” he added.
He warned that imposing uniform national policies, whether on school entry age, testing or curriculum pacing, would only deepen inequality rather than address it.
“What appears reasonable in urban centres becomes harmful when applied indiscriminately to rural and remote regions. When policies ignore context, they punish the most vulnerable, not because of a lack of ability, but because of structural neglect,” he said.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced in Parliament that the government had scrapped a proposed diagnostic test for six-year-olds seeking entry into Year One, following concerns that it could be discriminatory and hinder access to education.
The move came a week after the government announced plans to lower the primary school enrolment age from seven to six on a voluntary basis, allowing parents to choose when their children begin formal schooling.
The diagnostic test, proposed by the Education Ministry on Jan 22, was intended to assess children’s readiness for Year One, including their skill levels and ability to cope in the classroom.
However, Anwar said the government later concluded that the test could have psychological consequences and risk labelling children as less intelligent if they failed to qualify for enrolment at age six.
For Sarawak, Peter John said, the lesson from the controversy was clear.
“Education decisions affecting Sarawak must be made with Sarawak, not imposed upon it,” he said. — DayakDaily
