I was amazed when I saw two Malaysian schools were shortlisted as the top 10 finalists to be the World's Best for Innovation and Overcoming Adversity respectively.
Sekolah Kebangsaan Kempadang (SKK), Kuantan and Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Kampung Jawa, Klang (SMKKJ), you made us very proud.
Our public schools, where some remarked as backwater, are capable of being among the world's best.
But I was flabbergasted and just speechless while reading a few days ago, "Home Ministry allocates RM900 million for modernisation of immigration system”, at a contract handover ceremony.
The National Integrated Immigration System (NIISe) project was launched in April 2021.
It was to ensure the country’s immigration system was more comprehensive, modern, integrated and customer-friendly and in line with the latest technological developments to stay relevant in-service delivery, sovereignty and national security are preserved.
It includes construction of a new Immigration, Customs and Quarantine Complex, upgrading entry points, implementation of automated clearance system and bi-directional counters.
To ensure smooth running, a third party is appointed to help regulate, monitor, evaluate, test and audit to ensure it meets the specifications and requirements.
NIISe is to replace the 20-year-old Malaysian Immigration System (myIMMs) and expected to be fully operational by 2024.
For the record, the National Audit Department highlighted leakages, fraud and abuse of power in myIMMs. Example, first-time levy totalling RM40.8 million were done in an unorganised and dubious manner.
In 2017, Prestariang Bhd won a RM3.5 billion 15-year contract to install National Immigration Control System (SKIN) for the Home Ministry but was unilaterally terminated by the government in 2018. The company took the government to court to resolve the matter.
On the other hand, SKK, created Smartzoom, a fully-automated tracking system to follow pupils' progress when face-to-face teaching was halted by the pandemic.
This helps staff to devise concrete and detailed plans tailored to their specific class, with supporting teachers as well as panel one heads given training material from YouTube videos and workshops that helped with the transition.
While SMKKJ, overcame adversity after engaging parents to learn more about the students and their home environment to improve the teaching approach.
Known for vandalism, academically, it was in the bottom two out of 38 schools in Klang but has improved a lot.
The new principal helped redirect the school policies to align with his vision for change, through the implementation of the Trust School Programme.
He is so successful that SMKKJ now networks with local charities to help those who were struggling financially.
The initiatives from the two schools do not cost much and has put Malaysia among the best in the world.
All it needs are diligent, hardworking and conscientious principals and teachers working as a team with a bit of creativity. Hopefully, all civil servants can have these qualities.
And SKK is just a primary school.
It is regrettable that the Education Ministry have not shown keenness on these achievements and hope they will not take credit for it.
I trust the Home Ministry can learn a thing or two from the two schools and have fully adhered to proper procedures before making the contract award that took more than a year.
Do we really need all that is included in the RM900 million contract and a third party to ensure it meets the specifications and requirements? Are Home Ministry officers not competent and would the services of the third party be extended since the officers were not involved from the initial stages and was the proposal from the vendor accepted wholesale?
Meantime, for it to be fully operational by 2024, new technologies would have surfaced and may make NIISe redundant and obsolete. And can it ensure leakages, fraud and abuse of power can be plugged? What say you...
Saleh Mohammed is from Kuala Lumpur.