What is the education system in our country coming to? Do we not aspire to be a knowledge-based society? Do we not value high academic achievement amongst our young men and women who will one day take over the helm of the country?

Universities are rejecting students of high calibre and on the other hand, there are still vacant places. There is absolutely no regard nor respect for meritocracy at all. And obviously there is no common sense when it comes to choosing which students should go for higher education.

We want our clever young men and women to stay back and contribute to the country. We want our country to be successful, knowledge-based, developed and creative. However, we are actually driving them further away by creating this uncertain and contradictory situation.

If you give a hungry man a fish, he will not be hungry for a day.

If you teach him how to fish, he will never be hungry.

But if you give him a rotten fish, he might eat it due to severe hunger, but he will never trust you again.

This is exactly what is happening to us now. By depriving our high achievers the chance to pursue their dreams in our universities, we are sending out a message to them that we do not value their achievements. How then can we expect them to contribute to our country in the future? We have lost their trust. To them, we have become liars because we fell back on our own promises. We told them to strive hard to get good grades, and then when they got it, the reward is pulled away from right under their feet.

I have recently created a multimedia [#1]web presentation[/#] on Confucius and his teachings. This great teacher who lived in China long ago already knew that the core of a successful and peaceful nation is its men and women with good education. He believed that education is not a privilege but it is a right of every human being. I strongly urge our policy makers to adhere to this concept for it is time tested, pure in its intention and beneficial to our beloved country.

To our educationists and policy makers, I wish the best of luck to them in their quest to create an educated and knowledgeable society. We must all have the courage to change what is not right. The only constant in this world is change and we must never be afraid to rid ourselves of misguided concepts.