Young Voices: Rethinking the STEM vs non-STEM divide: Between pressure, prestige and purpose

This article first appeared in Forum, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on December 22, 2025 – December 28, 2025

Malaysia’s long-standing practice of streaming students into STEM — Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics — and non-STEM streams after Form 3 examinations has fostered a perceived hierarchy of academic value, with STEM being the prestigious “cornerstone” of the national education system.

Streaming is conducted based heavily on academic performance, with students achieving strong grades usually channelled into STEM streams. As a result, STEM students are often regarded as “better” students academically, while non-STEM students are often looked down as the “lesser” bunch. This societal stigma among Malaysians creates a dilemma between pressure, prestige and pursuit. Form 3 students — still shaping their identities from an almost blank canvas of experiences — feel like they are making life-shaping academic choices at an early age, as if ticking a box-defining future. Thus, constraining liberty to explore interests in their formative years, often leading them to pursue fields misaligned with their true strengths.

Many students pursuing humanities — such as economics, accounting, literature or art — usually face prejudice as the “lesser” academic bunch. Meanwhile, many STEM students, including myself, choose the stream in secondary school not out of genuine interest but because it is seen as the safest or most prestigious, only to later transition into non-STEM fields in university.

I recall achieving straight As in the now-abolished PT3 (Pentaksiran Tingkatan Tiga) as I had secured that shiny golden ticket into the pure science stream. After two years of late nights, sweat and tears being put into STEM electives — biology, chemistry, physics and additional mathematics — I now, at 22, find myself in my third year of an economics and politics degree, far from the STEM path.

Despite strong academics, I felt disconnected from conventional STEM pathways like medicine or engineering. Looking back, I realise that societal stigma heavily influenced my streaming decision. It was not genuine interest that pushed me towards STEM, but the prestige of being a “smart kid” and the fear of judgment if I had chosen otherwise.

Although the STEM agenda has created rigidity within the education system, its value to Malaysia’s national development goals cannot be overlooked. The Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013–2025 positions STEM education as the cornerstone of national development for the cultivation of a STEM-literate workforce serving high-value, technology-driven sectors. These sectors face shortages of engineers and highly skilled labour, a gap that could undermine the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation’s (Mosti) vision of a high-tech nation by 2030.

Beyond workforce needs, STEM education nurtures problem-solvers, fostering analytical and critical thinking skills — showing that the emphasis is not without merit.

The workforce-centric focus raises a critical question: Are the interests of non-STEM students being sacrificed for the national agenda?

This issue triggered a light bulb in my mind, especially when an education reform proposal was announced to lower the school-leaving age to 16, intended to push students into the workforce earlier amid Malaysia’s transition into an ageing nation.

Using education solely to fill skill gaps comes at the cost of students’ ability to explore their own interests. Education should nurture curiosity, not confine learners to predefined boxes early in life. Under current national priorities, non-STEM students often receive less support, leaving them at a disadvantage. The imbalance reduces flexibility in tertiary education, as students may lack foundational knowledge to move between STEM and non-STEM disciplines, necessitating extra effort to catch up.

To the Ministry of Education’s credit, reforms have been introduced for Malaysian upper secondary education — a pivotal stage when students begin exploring potential career paths.

Since 2020, the conventional Science and Arts streaming system has been replaced by the STREAM system — Science, Technology, Reading, Arts and Music — offering students a more flexible subject choice structure. According to Deputy Education Minister Teo Nie Ching, this allows students to select subjects based on their own interests and preferences.

However, students are still broadly separated into STEM tracks and non-STEM tracks despite subject packages, leaving little room for creative combinations. In practice, the labels have changed but the arbitrary divide still remains.

In theory, a fully subject-based system would be ideal, allowing students to explore their interests and opening doors to a plethora of tertiary education and career opportunities. However, practical limitations remain. Education is a hot potato, with unavoidable trade-offs between resources, student interests and national priorities so reforms can be hard to implement.

Even with STREAM, the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) has raised concerns that electives stretch school resources, including teachers and facilities, with many teachers already teaching subjects outside their formal training. Introducing a fully subject-choice structure would raise additional challenges: How would timetables be scheduled, and how could schools ensure there are enough qualified teachers?

Given logistical and staffing constraints, Malaysia is not yet ready for drastic education reform. Without a system that genuinely fosters exploration, curiosity and choice, lowering the school-leaving age will do little to help students from all fields reach their full potential. As long as students are forced into narrow education streams early in life, such measures will remain little more than a drop in the ocean.

Change cannot happen overnight. However, Malaysia must move beyond this binary categorisation, towards a future where students confidently pursue paths they truly desire, free from societal expectations.