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RM270 million! So much money for so little time spent by a mentor on each ‘trainee’ is questionable, to put it mildly.

Each local teacher was trained for about three to four hours a month, and questioned how a language can be mastered with such a short training.

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SUMMARY OF THE ARTICLE

Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari said that an “absurd amount” of RM270 million was spent by the Education Ministry over a period of three years to pay foreign consultants to train local English teachers

The Facts

1 RM270 over 3 years to pay foreign consultants to train local English teachers.
2 The number hired: 360 English language mentors.
3 That means RM250,000 a year for each mentor or almost RM21,000 a month.
4 Beneficiaries of the training program: 7,500 teachers from 1,800 schools all across the country.
5 Trainers only mentored the teachers for 3-4 hours every month.

RM270mil spent on English language trainers

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Malaysian Insider

RM270 million paid to train teachers in English is absurd, says DAP

BY LEE SHI-IAN
October 21, 2013

A DAP leader has questioned the Education Ministry’s payment of RM270 million to consultants in the training of local English-language teachers.

Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari said the ministry should explain why the three external consultants were paid the sum to hire 360 mentors to train local English-language teachers for three to four hours a month.

Zairil, who is DAP’s assistant national publicity secretary, questioned why such an exorbitant sum was paid to the British Council, Brighton Education Group and SMR HR Group, between 2011 and 2013.
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“The Education Ministry’s reply in parliament was that the three consultancy firms have their respective training responsibilities divided geographically.

“The British Council provides mentors to train teachers in Labuan, Sabah and Sarawak, Brighton Education Group (Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Malacca, Johor and Negri Sembilan) while the SMR HR Group (Penang, Perlis, Perak, Kedah and Selangor).
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He said the Wawasan Open University offers a Bachelor of Arts in English studies for RM24,000, two-thirds of the cost of the mentoring programme provided by the three consultancy firms.

“A six-month diploma course in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) would cost only RM4,500 at a local private college. There is absolutely no justification for the Education Ministry to hire overpaid consultants,” said Zairil.

RM270 million paid to train teachers in English is absurd, says DAP

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