CONCEPT OF NATIONAL EDUCATION PHILOSOPHY (NEP)

Philosophy of education is viewed as a process or activity of clarifying terms, thoughts and principles that guide education and problem that inhibit education. It is also a process that purposes ends and goal for education which suggests means to those ends. So, it unites and combines educational goals, policies and practices into a logical, coherent whole. The National Philosophy of Education (NPE) is a body of concepts, principles and values that underlining educational practices and then rationalizes current practices. This will guides further trends and actions. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_education)

The National Philosophy of Education is based on the Five National Principles (Rukunegara). It is reason to develop a world-class quality education system which will realize the full potential of the individual and fulfill the aspiration of the Malaysian nation.

Basing on the ideology and philosophy contained in the Education Reports and Education Act, the Five National Principle (Rukun Negara), as well as the ideologies and cultures of the Malaysian society, the following National Education Philosophy (FPK) was drawn up and announced officially in the year 1988. (Mok Soon Sang (2003) An Education Course for KPLI Theme 1, Kumpulan Budiman SDN BHD, Subang Jaya.)Education in Malaysia is an on-going effort towards further developing the potential of individuals in a holistic and integrated manner, in order to produce individuals who are intellectually, spiritually, emotionally and physically, balanced and harmonious, based on a firm belief in and devotion to god. Such an effort is designed to produce Malaysian citizens who are knowledgeable and competent, who possess high moral standards and who are responsible and capable of achieving a high level of personal well-being to contribute to the betterment of the nation, family and society.

The National Education Philosophy (NEP) will explain to pupils and at the same time provides headship and guidance or opinion on matters related to education. It was systematically and circumspectly designed by education experts who had considered comprehensively all education aspects related to the requirement of individuals, society and nation. As such, the planning of the programme of KBSR and KBSM were based on these basic concepts of the National Education Philosophy. Based on the National Education Philosophy (NEP), the objectives of National Education are to produce good and excellent students so as to become constructive citizens. In other words, the main aims of National Philosophy of Education is to train Malaysians to acquire qualities such as Belief in and Obedience to God, loyal to King and Nation, Upholding the Constitution, Respect the Rule of Laws, Good Behaviour and Morality.

Belief in and obedience to God loyal to King and Nation Upholding the Constitution Respect the Rule of Laws Good Behaviour and Morality

The declaration of Five National Principles is our nation, Malaysia, being dedicated to achieving a greater unity of its entire people. The National Philosophy of Education is build to maintain a democratic way of life. It is due to the different races in Malaysia. Malaysia wants to avoid the May 13th incident from happening again. During the British era in Malaysia, they have applied the divide and rule. Thus the National Philosophy of Education was constructed to create a just society in which the wealth of the nation shall be equably shared. Five National Principles ensures a liberal approach to Malaysias rich and diverse cultural traditions and build a progressive society which shall be orientated to modern science and technology. To prepare the nation's human resource for development needs to provide educational opportunities for all Malaysians.(Mok Soon Sang (2003) An Education Course for KPLI Theme 1, Kumpulan Budiman SDN BHD, Subang Jaya.)

Under the second Malaysia Plan, the education and training programmes were focused on the four important aspects. Firstly, the education and training programmes is to revise the education system so as to foster national unity and integrations. The education and training programmes is to design a wide range of education programmes and trainings to suit and accommodate the countrys labour requirements. The education and training programmes to improve the standard of education so as to create a progressive society based on modern science and technology and finally to enhance the ability to design and implement research so as to achieve the objectives stated above. (Mok Soon Sang (2003) An Education Course for KPLI Theme 1, Kumpulan Budiman SDN BHD, Subang Jaya.)The New Economic Policy has also been the basic of Malaysias National Philosophy of Education. This economical policy is to close the gap of the different wealth level as the result of the Britishs action of divide and rule. What to be change is the eradication of poverty and social restructuring by eliminating identification of economic functions with race. This emphasis is to improve the standard of living for the rural people. Then this policy is constructed to create a business and industrial society for the bumiputera group as well as reducing the economic imbalance among the various races. (Mok Soon Sang (2003) An Education Course for KPLI Theme 1, Kumpulan Budiman SDN BHD, Subang Jaya.)The National Educational Policy is another crucial part of the National Philosophy of Education. It is all about the development of Malaysias education system as we can see the improvement in each educational policy. Since the Barnes Report and Education Ordinance 1952, we can see a lot of implication in recent education system. Then, since the Rahman Talib Report 1960, Malaysia tried to standardize all the elements in education system. They include the medium of interaction, school uniform, syllabus and curriculum, co-curricular activities, teacher qualification, and public examination. (Mok Soon Sang (2003) An Education Course for KPLI Theme 1, Kumpulan Budiman SDN BHD, Subang Jaya.)

OBJECTIVE OF NATIONAL EDUCATION PHILOSOPHY (NEP)

The important roles of the National Education Philosophy (NEP) with respect to the education system of Malaysia serves as an enlightenment to provide guidance to all efforts used to develop and improve the national education. It provides the policy and basic consideration to determine the objectives of National Education. It also serves as a reference to help educators to understand the national education system and provide necessary guidance for educators to carry out their educational duties accordingly. Other than that, National Education Philosophy (NEP) provides the policy and the basic consideration to plan the school curriculum, design learning materials and determine strategies for teaching-learning activities. Finally it helps to monitor the education policy so that all education activities and programmes would be implemented according to the spirit of NEP and ensures that there is no misunderstanding while implementing any education activities. To prepare the nation's human resource for development needs.(Mok Soon Sang (2003) An Education Course for KPLI Theme 1, Kumpulan Budiman SDN BHD, Subang Jaya.)The National Philosophy of Education is build to create good Malaysian citizens. The characteristic of good citizens is belief in god. In order to be high quality citizens they are also should be knowledgeable too. The more knowledgeable people will enable us to compete with other countries in all ways. Moreover, noble character and possessing balanced and rounded personality also becomes the essential feature of good citizens. Good Malaysians also posses with high standard of living skills. Responsible to self, society, religion and nation also will produce good citizens. Independent and responsible to self means having the neat appearance as well as self discipline. Provide students with the skills to analyze how health and social challenges are linked to larger national and global forces that governmental, intergovernmental & economic. Mechanisms for policy formation at both international and national levels will be given special attention. (Mok Soon Sang (2003) An Education Course for KPLI Theme 1, Kumpulan Budiman SDN BHD, Subang Jaya.)

Good citizens also willing to contribute to development of society and nation. Moreover, they can and willing to sacrifice their needs, important, energy, time as well as money to contribute towards development of the nation.Other than developing the overall and well-balanced potentials, of individuals, National Education Philosophy is also hoped that, through the process of education, Malaysia will achieve the educational objectives. First, National Education Philosophy is aims to educate students who will be able to fulfill their duty as responsible citizens. Second, it is produce progressive, skilful and efficient citizens to carry out their duties productively and pleasingly so that to contribute towards the advancement and development of the country. Third, it is to also produce citizens who will be able to understand, accept and follow democratic principles and inspirations according to the Constitution. Fourth, it is to produce citizens who will be loyal to the King and nation. This loyalty will make them ready to sacrifice anything for the country. They will be loyal and would not involve in any problems. Fifth, National Education Philosophy is to produce citizens who are able to understand and practice the Five National Principles (Rukun Negara), and to be tolerant so as to unite all races. Last of all it is aims to narrow the gap among the races in all fields by providing basic education facilities to the less fortune groups. (Mok Soon Sang (2003) An Education Course for KPLI Theme 1, Kumpulan Budiman SDN BHD, Subang Jaya.)The National Philosophy of Education goals are including individual development and societal demand. The emphasis on individual development is fundamental because Malaysia wants to produce best human capital. Educational caters for the optimum development of individual potentiality including physical, intellectual, moral, emotional, socio-cultural, esthetic development is to ensure meaningful survival within the framework and societal needs and demands. For example, nowadays community demand is to produce people with great skills in information technology. Hence to fulfill this need, Mathematics and Science related subjects in primary and secondary schools are taught in English as the ways to prepare them towards to produce people with great skills. (Mok Soon Sang (2003) An Education Course for KPLI Theme 1, Kumpulan Budiman SDN BHD, Subang Jaya.)Other reasoning of it was that students would no longer be delayed by the language barrier during their tertiary education in fields such as medicine and engineering. At societal level, formal education in Malaysia is viewed of an instrument for achieving national unit and providing manpower with appropriate education and training for national development and transmission of national culture and heritage.This philosophy is quite similar to the philosophy of Islamic education, everyone develop in the aspects of intellectual, spiritual, and emotional are based on belief in and devotion to God. Surely, the philosophy of education in our country, Malaysia, is unique in the sense that it possesses its own special characteristics, which is different from other philosophy. (Mok Soon Sang (2003) An Education Course for KPLI Theme 1, Kumpulan Budiman SDN BHD, Subang Jaya.)Encourage the sharing of information and skills with colleagues through collaboration both across disciplines at the University of Michigan and across international boundaries through research relationships and placement of students in field practicums. Fostering relationships with academic and other agencies around the world will also create opportunities for future collaboration. Provide a forum for students with diverse backgrounds to share their own experiences, capitalizing on the peer teaching opportunities that domestic and international students can offer one another. Hence, we can summarize the aims of The National Philosophy of Education as to instruct students who will be able to fulfill their duties as responsible citizens. Besides, the National Philosophy of Education is constructed to produce progressive, skillful and efficient citizens to carry out the duties productively and satisfactorily so as to contribute towards the advancement and development of the country. In addition, National Philosophy of Education desires to produce citizens who will be able to understand, accept and follow democratic principles and rules according to the Constitutions. Another aims is that to generate citizens who will be loyal to the King and nation. Likewise, The National Philosophy of Education is targeting to produce citizens who will be able understand and practice the Five National Principles and to be tolerant so as to unite all races, and to narrow the gap among the races in all fields by providing basic education facilities to the less fortunate group. ((Mok Soon Sang (2003) An Education Course for KPLI Theme 1, Kumpulan Budiman SDN BHD, Subang Jaya.)3