Education and Labour Mobility

By: Natalie Shobana Ambrose

theSun, Malaysia (pg 12 )
March 7, 2013
http://www.thesundaily.my/news/columns/onpointe

Imagine going through the routine of school for years and then charting a path through university with the goal of equipping yourself for the workforce.

Graduating, you eagerly enter the marketplace gaining experience, improving skills, taking short courses to advance your career only to be qualified, proficient and unemployed. This is the reality of many countries in Europe at the moment. An estimated 6 million Spaniards are unemployed translating to 26% of the workforce unable to find work.

It is a very difficult position to be in having done everything possible to be accomplished and then finding out that the company has to downsize you out because the economy is in such an unhealthy state.

The situation may not be so dire as the European Union's integration and enlargement policy allows for free labour mobility within the EU. Allowing for a single labour market means that unemployed Spaniards have the option to move freely within the EU to seek and secure employment.

However many Spaniards are discovering that though very qualified, it is next to impossible to find employment and move because of language barriers.

Though not as multilingual as our Asean bloc, language barriers within EU countries inevitably limit mobility. This is where being familiar or fluent in English might open more doors especially for high-skilled workers.

Now Asean is moving towards this direction of enhancing labour migration but despite the legal provisions to allow such movement, will we too fall into the trap of being highly skilled and limiting ourselves because of language barriers. As it is, in practice, we do not speak the language of our neighbours.

 Yes, by default we are able to communicate with our Indonesian and Brunei neighbours but we do not choose to learn Thai, Khmer or Vietnamese. Yet when we do meet, English is the language we communicate in.

Being able to communicate well in an international language is imperative in today's global world. We may kick, scream and throw a hissy fit but that won't change the reality that English is very important. Yet our school systems do not address this issue.

Language may be the most important migration determinant and for a country with a serious brain drain problem, we might not want to provide tools that will aid such migration, yet as a country seeking to be developed and participate effectively in the global economy, we need workers who can communicate.

 There is no point in being a highly skilled worker who cannot translate findings and accomplishments into a language that is global.

Not only will this contribute to a better workforce, it will also draw in global recognition and investment.

What we have in Malaysia however is a multilayered school system that feeds on segregating based on language. It does the country a great disservice not just with regards to human capital but national cohesion.

We have a growing number of communities that are not able to speak our national language comfortably and choose to cut themselves from communicating with the different races through a unifying language.

 We also have those who went to national schools where English was a compulsory subject taught a few minutes a week and now cannot string grammatically correct sentences together let alone write coherently.

There should be a single national school system that is efficient and allows for the mother-tongue languages to be taught so that our multicultural inheritance is maintained while we integrate and assimilate.

Such a school system should also incorporate an English language curriculum that is of international standard. Perhaps this is where we can learn from Scandinavian countries where English is taught at a young age while still speaking their native language.

 Ten years ago, we would not have thought that Europe would be in such a crisis, yet it is.

What happens if we find ourselves in such a situation in the years to come? Instead of continuing the way we are, we should be putting in place policies that will not just get us by but create better opportunities within our country.

If we establish global opportunities locally, we will be able to keep our talent too, of course given that other discriminatory policies are eliminated.

Efficiency of human capital begins in our schools something hopefully the new transformational Education Blueprint will chart out. It's not about an education system that fulfils current needs but it should be an education system that prepares and anticipates the challenges ahead and grooms students to be internationally marketable in the future.

Austrian-British philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein once said "The limits of my language means the limits of my world".

Let's not then further limit ourselves, our country and our future.

Natalie believes that language has the power to open doors, create opportunities and enlightens us to a whole new world. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com