TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN MALAYSIA

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol6iss1pp265-283

Abstract

Background and Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the level of technical efficiency of Malaysia’s secondary education. Education efficiency has become an important issue since the education sector is the recipient of high priority budget allocation. An evaluation of whether the budget distribution for secondary education is technically efficient is necessary because secondary education represents almost 40% of the national education budget. 

 

Methodology: The study applied the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) in examining the level of technical efficiency for a sample of 626 secondary schools from four selected states, namely, Selangor, Melaka, Kedah, and Terengganu. The sample was further split into schools from developed and less developed states, and urban and rural areas.  

 

Findings:  The results revealed that secondary schools in the four sample states were technically inefficient (almost 98%).  Most schools were at a moderate level of technical efficiency (score range between 0.5-0.79). Interestingly, schools in rural areas and less-developed states showed better technical efficiency than those in urban areas and developed states. Given the government's total expenditure, academic achievement could be increased by almost 30 percent with an improvement in inefficiency.

 

Contributions: The study's fundamental implications are that inefficient secondary schools need to increase their efficiency by ensuring effective budget spending and adequate expenditure distribution monitoring. More schools need to be constructed or repaired, and old schools/buildings upgraded. The sector also needs to expedite compliance with the 17:1 student-teacher ratio set by the Education Ministry to improve teaching delivery quality.

 

Keywords: Data envelopment analysis, government spending, secondary school, student and teacher ratio, technical efficiency.

 

Cite as: Baba, R., Abdul Karim, Z., Abdul-Majid, M., & Sulaiman, N. (2021). Technical efficiency of secondary schools in Malaysia.  Journal of Nusantara Studies, 6(1), 265-283. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol6iss1pp265-283

Author Biographies

  • Rozita Baba, Fakulti Pengajian Islam, Kolej Universiti Islam Melaka, Melaka, MALAYSIA

    Rozita Baba is a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Islamic Studies, University College of Islam Melaka. Her expertise is in the field of Public Policy; Monetary and Financial Economics, Public Sector Economics and Education Economics. Her research interests are education economics and public policy which relates to education issues, labour market issues, industrial and development issues and policy studies.

  • Zulkefly Abdul Karim, Fakulti Ekonomi dan Pengurusan, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Selangor, MALAYSIA

    Zulkefly Abdul Karim is an Associate Professor at the Centre for Sustainable and Inclusive Development Studies (SID), Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia. He is currently a Deputy Director of Centre for IDEA-UKM. His research areas are concentrated in the field of monetary and financial economics, applied economics in time series and panel data, and capital market analysis. He has published more than 75 journal articles indexed in SCOPUS and Web of Science (WoS).

  • Mariani Abdul-Majid, Fakulti Ekonomi dan Pengurusan, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Selangor, MALAYSIA

    Associate Professor Dr Mariani Abdul Majid is an associate professor at the Center for Inclusive and Sustainable Development, Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.  Her expertise is in the field of Islamic Banking and Finance; Performance Measurement; Financial Economics; Industrial / Organizational Economic applications.  Currently, Associate Professor Dr Mariani is the chief editor of Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia (SCOPUS).

  • Noorasiah Sulaiman, Fakulti Ekonomi dan Pengurusan, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Selangor, MALAYSIA

    Associate Professor Dr. Noorasiah Sulaiman is a lecturer and researcher in economics at the Centre for Sustainability and Inclusive Development Studies, Faculty of Economics and Management, the National University of Malaysia. Her research interest is on labour economics and development economy which relates to labour market issues, industrial and development issues and policy studies.

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Published

2021-01-28

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 1: Journal of Nusantara Studies (JONUS)

Section

Articles

How to Cite

TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN MALAYSIA. (2021). Journal of Nusantara Studies (JONUS), 6(1), 265-283. https://doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol6iss1pp265-283