ACCEPTANCE LEVEL AMONG POTENTIAL STAKEHOLDERS IN IMPLEMENTING FULLY PRIVATELY RUN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to identify the acceptance level among potential stakeholders (private sectors) in implementing fully privately run public schools (FPRPS) in Malaysia. Under the Malaysian Educational Blueprint (MEB) 2013 - 2025, it is clearly stated that the programmes and activities that would encourage and allow parents, the public and private sectors, NGOs, and society to forge a partnership with the school will benefit especially concerning values education. These school community partnerships can be related to the ninth shift in the Blueprint which is “partnering with parents, community and private sector at scale,” although, the emphasis of this shift is more on students’ academic progress. This study was conducted for three months periods, involving 402 students, 169 parents, 13 schools in three Districts Education Office (PPD) which are Petaling Utama, Wilayah Bangsar-Pudu and Hulu Langat, 11 private sectors and 10 regulatory bodies. The mix method was used in the study where survey (quantitative method) has been applied to students and parents whereas interview (in form of focus group discussion –FGD) has been implemented for teachers and principals, private sectors and regulators. The data had been processed by using Atlas ti – Windows 8 and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). From the surveys and interviews conducted on FPRPS, all of the respondents (i.e. students, parents, teachers, principals, private sectors, and regulators) indicated that they are ready and willing to accept the FPRPS implementation. This is because FPRS offers huge potential benefits to them. These includes improvement in students’ skill, teacher training, academic performance, employability, financial support, infrastructures, facilities, security, maintenance, workload, school efficiency, productivity, teachers’ skill, profit, and salary.