Author: Nina Adian Disney

Date: 25 March 2016

This paper takes a look at the notion of autonomy for schools.Two private schools were selected and their use of autonomy was studied. The four areas in which both schools seem to freely practice autonomy are : curriculum, teaching methodology, staffing , financing and governance structures. The author observes that their autonomy allows for the schools to respond to the demand of parents.

Author: Dr Razeen Sally

Date:  March 2016

Dr Razeen Sally is the author of this paper and he is also the Chairman of the Institute of Policy Studies, a key think tank in his native Sri Lanka which advises the Sri Lankan government on economic policies.

This paper is an edited version of a speech delivered by Dr Razeen Sally at IDEAS’ Liberalism Conference in Kuala Lumpur on 19 September 2015. This one-day conference was designed to discuss the trends, challenges and future prospects of liberalism in Malaysia, with invited speakers from all sides of the socio-political divide.

Author: Associate Professor Grace Lee Hooi Yean, Associate Professor Gareth Leeves, Monash University Malaysia

Date: 25 February 2017

This paper present the findings and observations of a case study conducted in a particular Chinese Independent School located in Klang Valley. It elaborates on the efficacy of the school in conducting teacher training to ensure their students’ needs are met and raising funds to ensure sustainability of the school.

Furthermore, this case study looks at how the administration uses its autonomy to cater for its student needs, as well as parents’ opinions on the choice they had made to send their children to various Chinese Independent Schools in general.

Author: Carolyn Hong

Date: October 2015

This paper looks at the educational, care and therapy options for children with autism who are between the ages of nine (upper-limit to when they are able to enter mainstream primary schools) and above. Through interviews with parents, teachers and special needs education, care and therapy providers, and desk-based research the author documents the costs, curriculum, admissions policies and challenges of the main options available. The paper concludes that provision of educational, care and therapy options are lacking and too expensive for the average family in Malaysia.

Author: Joanna Menon Lim

Date: July 2015

Once regarded as a rare occurrence, the incidence of autism is now on the rise in Malaysia. This case study explores the level of support available to parents of children with autism through interviews with stakeholders in the field. Four key areas were examined: education and care, healthcare, family and society as well as long term planning. To understand the mechanisms through which income levels influence the parents’ ability to obtain support, three in-depth interviews were conducted with families from low, middle and high income brackets.

Authors: Dr David Seth Jones

Date: June 2015

In the ongoing negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), it is intended to incorporate public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in the chapter on government procurement, thereby opening up mutual access to the PPP markets of the member states.

Authors: Sri Murniati

Date: March 2015

This paper discusses the Kumpulan Wang Amanah Negara (KWAN), Malaysia’s natural resource fund. Using good governance frameworks from research on Natural Resource Funds by the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) and Columbia Center for Sustainable Investment (CCSI), the paper evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of KWAN and suggests several improvements. Among them are revising the deposit and withdrawal rules to encourage saving and accountability, improving the oversight mechanism and public disclosure.

Author: Jenny Gryzelius

Date:  February 2015

In 2011, the Ministry of Education launched the 1BestariNet programme – an ambitious initiative to equip all government schools in Malaysia with high-speed internet connectivity, Chromebooks and, a Virtual Learning Environment. This programme was also an attempt to bridge the urban-rural digital divide in the country.  The idea was to have ICT integrated as part of the teaching and learning processes in classrooms in order to enhance student outcomes. However, a closer look at the workings of the 1BestariNet programme unveils the shortcomings of a one-size-fits-all approach to planning and implementation of this initiative.  The main weaknesses identified in this paper are: lack of teacher training on how to integrate ICT into pedagogy, inadequate internet speeds and connectivity, and minimal involvement of school leadership when implementing ICT policies into their schools, all of which lead to minimal usage of ICT by teachers in classrooms. In light of these weaknesses this paper recommends that schools need to tailor make their own ICT training programmes, to determine what bandwidth is possible for their condition and what kind of devices would be most beneficial for their student body.

Author: Tamanna Patel

Date: Dec 2014

This paper looks at the gap in provision of early childhood care, education and therapy services for those with special needs with a specific focus on our experiences with the IDEAS Autism Centre (IAC), a full day child care centre for children with autism which includes education and therapy as well. The need for early intervention centres catering to parents from low-income households is not being adequately met by government or even private sector players. Based on the experiences of the IAC we believe that there are two main challenges to providing affordable early intervention services for low income households in Malaysia

Author: David Seth Jones

Date: December 2014

The paper examines opportunities and challenges for Malaysia if it accedes to a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that has public procurement provisions. It examines the key provisions in the procurement chapter of an FTA, and the core principles that shape them, viz. non-discrimination, convergence, and transparency. The paper considers what suppliers must do to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by access to a much larger procurement market, and the consequent benefits to each partner country.

The benefits to Malaysia from the inclusion of procurement in an FTA are then identified, including the increased chances for Malaysian businesses to win contracts in foreign procurement markets, the resultant boost to exports, and improved procurement practices as a result of convergence and transparency.

Author: Jenny Gryzelius

Date: November 2014

This paper offers an exploration of the benefit of school choice and how school voucher programmes are a core feature of successfully bringing education choice to all segments of society. School vouchers are flexible arrangements for education funding, where the funding follows the student. By looking at three different school voucher programmes, the Milwaukee Parental Choice Programme in the US state of Wisconsin, and the nationwide voucher programmes in Sweden and the Netherlands, we seek to find a benchmark framework for what regulations and infrastructure need to be in place in order for a programme to be successfully implemented.

Author: Tamanna Patel

Date: July 2014

In 2013, IDEAS conducted a survey on education, also known as Giving Voice to the Poor, to uncover the needs and aspirations of parents from low-income households around Malaysia. The survey covered over 1,200 respondents of which 150 respondents had at least one child who had dropped out of school. This paper takes a closer look at this group of 150 in an attempt to further understand issues that parents perceive as the reasons for a child dropping out.