Kuala Lumpur - Former Director-general of Education Tan Sri Murad Mohamed Noor passed away of lung infection at the Gleneagles Intan Medical Centre tonight. He was 78.
Murad was mostly remembered for his famous "Murad Report", which detailed problems of school dropouts in the 1970s and ways to address the problem.
He was born in Penaga, Seberang Perai, Penang on April 10, 1930 and was married to Puan Sri Azizah Aiyub Ghazali. His son Jit is a well known actor, playwright and stand-up comedian.
Before he died, he was a senior non-independent director of IJM Corporation Berhad and chairman of the Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris Council. He was a students at the Ibrahim School in Sungai Petani, Kedah beforfe moving to the Sultan Abdul Hamid College in Jitra, Kedah.
Murad furthered his studies at Universiti Malaya, Singapore in 1955 for a diploma in Education before doing his diploma in education and administration at the University of Reading in 1961-1963. He capped his academic studies by earning a doctorate in literature at the same university.
He started his teaching career in 1957 at the Sultan Abdul Hamid College before making it as headmaster at the Sekolah Tuanku Abdul Rahman in Ipoh, Perak.
After returning from the UK, he took a job as Pahang Chief Education Officer before moving to Kelantan in the same capacity until 1967 where he became the Controller of Examinations in the Education Ministry.
In 1971, he was made the Director of Planning & Research of the ministry before rising quickly to Deputy Director General of Education a year later.
Four years later, he was appointed Director General of Education before retiring in 1985, joining the private sector in various academic capacity.
Source: www.nst.com.my (23 Januari 2008)
