Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's continued silence on Malaysia's dismal showing in two major international education ranking systems is a sign of acceptance, said DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang.

Referring to Malaysia's slide in the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (Timss) rankings, Lim said if the matter was unaddressed, it would lead the country's education system on a path to mediocrity.

"Muhyiddin should stop building castles in the air about Malaysia being among the top one-third of the Timss and Pisa systems come 2021.

"By his silence in the past week on the Pisa (rankings), he seems to be comfortable or resigned to the country being a nation of mediocrity instead of being a nation of excellence," he said in a press release today.

When launching the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2025 (MEB), Muhyiddin said the policy was aimed at putting Malaysia in the top one-third of Pisa and Timms ranking systems in 13 years.

The Pisa 2012 ranking released on Tuesday placed Malaysia's overall ranking at 52nd of 65 countries studied.

As for Timms, the study had in 2011 ranked Malaysia 26th place for science and 32nd     
for mathematics. The year before, Malaysia ranked 10th and 20th respectively.

Lim pointed out that Muhyiddin did not speak about the slide in the Timms ranking either when it was released in December last year.

"Muhyiddin cannot remain silent for Malaysians are entitled to know why he is unconcerned and indifferent to the Timms 2011 and Pisa 2012 results for Malaysian students.

"It is an indictment of the Malaysian national education system as well as the series of Umno/BN education ministers in the past - going back even to the period when Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak was the education minister from 1995 to 2000," he said.