PIBG , Parents Association and Teachers Welfare
May 4, 2008 by drrafick
Today (Sunday May 4th 2008), two articles in the STAR attracted my attention. The first is under the heading “Be grateful to teachers” written by Barisha (probably a teacher) and the second is “An Association For Parents?” written by Hussein Tan. Before any MOE or JPWPKL officials jump on me or try to pass a judgment or to start another round of investigation against me in running a school PIBG, please allow me to repeat that what is written is done in my personal capacity and reflects my own personal thoughts and it does not reflect the official position of any of the organization that I represent.
PARENTS MUST RESPECT THOSE PROFESSIONALS AND DEDICATED TEACHERS ONLY!
I refer to the first article which was written by Cikgu (?) Barisha. To a certain extent, I agree with her. Extra class should be done for the weak students. The problem that we face today is that parents are equally Kiasu – they want their children to attend any extra class that the school are organizing and over and above that they will send their children to tuition centres. Sometimes I feel that the parents are rather feeling insecure and not the children. However some school force all the children to attend extra class and make it compulsory for parents to pay for it.
In Barisha’s letter, she uses the word “nurture”. I think this is a big word and giving extra class is only a small part in nurturing. I too feel that, we parents should be grateful to the teachers i.e. to the “professional and dedicated teachers and not all human being who become teachers in school” Why I say that?
Please allow me to explain. In today’s environment where the numbers of jobless graduates are on the rise, we see many people chose the teaching profession for the sake of having a job. Teaching is their last priority. The first priority is to get a job, for that matter any safe job that can give a secure monthly salary every month to meet their needs.
For that reason, in one particular school, the “Pengerusi Kelab Kebajikan Guru” choose to attack the PIBG for not paying them enough money in running extra class. In fact in this particular school, the Chairman threaten parents openly during a PIBG AGM if they chose to elect the incumbent PIBG committee, they (the teachers) will make life difficult for their children as he claims that the teachers are the one with the students everyday in school and they can do a lot of things to them.
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR TEACHERS WELFARE - PIBG ? OR MOE
This is one of the many example on the kind of people that has become teachers in school. He has such an unstable personality and what is even worst is that he is easily provoked by several other teachers who has no balls to stand up to speak but use him for their own selfish needs. It appears that MOE is not paying enough attention towards teacher’s welfare and that is why the “Kelab Kebajikan Guru” is now behaving like a union in this particular school demanding PIBG to take care of the welfare of the teachers.
Dear Barisha, should we be grateful to these types of teachers? They demand certain amount of payment to do extra classes. Onother senior teacher can even say that it is not worth for them to do extra classes in school as when they do a part time training outside, they get paid RM40 - RM50 per hour and demanded to know why the PIBG is paying so low. This teacher (and his friends) felt that it is not worth for them to spend time to do extra classes for the weak students because financially it is not rewarding enough. Cikgu Barisha, is it appropriate for me to respect and be grateful to this kind of teachers?
Please spare me the time honoured phrase that “Kerana guru, anda berjaya di dalam hidup” and phrase like “ Guru ibarat lilin yang membakar diri menerangai hidup orang lain”. Oh Barisha, please…….. I honour my teachers, I cry and hug them when I see them. I honour the teachers but I can no longer honour the profession. The profession has gone to the drain. Whether you agree to it or not, it is up to you make the assessment. I am sure you are married and have children and a parent yourself. Would you accept this kind of teachers to nurture your children?
TEACHING AS A PROFESSION HAS LOST ITS NOBILITY- WHO IS RESPONSIBLE - TEACHERS OR MOE OR PARENTS?
Why did I say that the profession has gone down the drains? Simply because, the good teachers do nothing to ensure that such bad characters to be weeded out among them in the profession. They just do what is expected out of them. They don’t want to enforce self regulation among themselves. They allow the bad seed to grow within the profession and now has tainted the nobility of the profession. It is so embarrassing when a teacher can remind her/his student of bringing gifts for Teachers Day or for their birthday. From the way the teachers are talking, probably MOE has failed to take care of teachers welfare. If that is the case, I suggest the Minister of Education looks into this matter quickly.
Today, many parents have very little respect for most of the teachers. There are very few people who deserve special mention and awards. Very few teachers who have shown exemplary conduct. My children’s Head Master is one of the rare few who is worth mentioning. There are a few others who deserve to be mention. The key word here is “few” . No one can improve the image of the profession. Only the teachers can. They have got to go back and find out how to earn their “colours’.
PARENTS ASSOCIATION OR PARENTS TEACHERS ASSOCIATIONS
With regards to the letter written by Hussein Tan where he proposed the formation of Parents Association, I agree with him on the need of such Association. But I TOTALLY DISAGREE on the reasons that were put forward by him.
Allow me to share some of my recent experience. I am one of the founding members who formed a Pro-Temp committee to form such Association (PERSIBA i.e. Persatuan Ibu Bapa or PA). Despite having clear goals, HM of one school felt so threatened by it that she went around to psycho all the teachers in her school that the PA is against teachers. She even went to the extend to lobby a local politician and the MGB (Majlis Guru Besar) that we are a threat to Education Institution. We even try to meet her but she refused. This put the PA in the bad light and in difficult position to move forward. The PA becomes a taboo but we the Parents are a persistent lot and know what we are doing and we are not about to give up just yet.
Personally, I feel Parents Association is important but it must not look at microscopic issues. It must address bigger issues. Parents Association must focus on National Education and Welfare related matters at the policy making level. They must address the direction of the National Education Policy. They must address parliamentarians and MOE on policy matters.
In countries like Australia and US, Parents Association play a major role in changing the way education is done. In Australia, today the focus is not on examinations but on skills and mental stimulations. Children are guided rather than being thought to memorize. There is no position in class. There is no numbers but just a rough guide where the students actually stand among peers. The pressure of getting No 1 is no longer there. Learning becomes fun. Children don’t want to skip school in fact they look forward to go to school.
Parents Association must look at PIBG governance and the suitability of having a school board. The Parents Association should be able to guide parents about the actual roles and how PIBG is supposed to function.
PARENTS ASSOCIATION AND OVERBEARING HM’S - CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP A CULT?
Let me share about the happening in one SMK school in Cheras. Parents and one teacher there wanted to form a self counselling group which is called the Christian Fellowship. The Education department allows it. There are enough regulations that permit it but the HM during a PIBG meeting called the “Christian Fellowship” a Cult and cannot be allowed in school. It doesn’t matter whether the laws allows it. It doesn’t matter that it is being done in other school for years. She will not allow it in her school. The Christian Fellowship is not about preaching Christianity but more towards self counselling among the Christians youth who face many adulthood changes in life. It does not open its doors to other students from other faith. It is restricted to Christians. What they want to do is to manage adulthood changes among boys and girls so that the children has an avenue to share their experience.
IS NATIONAL SCHOOLS BECOMING A RELIGIOUS SCHOOL?
However in the same school, they run short Islamic religious sermons during morning assembly. There is a DOA that everyone must listen. And on Friday morning, the reading of the Qurans is done in front of all the children irrespective of their religion. The only consolation is that the Non Muslim children are asked to sit at the back and ignore what is being read! Is this a logical and fair approach.
This is where I don’t understand. I feel that If we as Muslims feel offended when we are forced to listen to Sermons by a Padre or the Pope, than we must respect others by not doing the same. The National Schools is slowly becoming a Islamic based Institution and not a place to learn science, maths and technical skills. It is slowly losing its appeal as the centre of learning.
I have no qualms of schools having religious classes in fact I am supportive of it but I feel it should run separately from the main syllabus. In the 60s and 70s, I remember the religious classes are always done in the afternoon where I learn about the Quran, Pillars of Islam and other matters related to Islam. The non-Muslim children go to their own respective religious classes which are done by outside volunteers. Every religion had access to the use of the school facilities.
IS IT ACCEPTABLE AN INDIAN SWAMI OR A CHRISTIAN PRIEST GAVE RELIGIOUS SERMON FOR ALL (MUSLIM & NON MUSLIM CHILDREN) TO LISTEN ?
I want to ask MOE and in particular this SMK HM. If you can give an opportunity to an Ustaz to conduct a mass prayer (Doa) where the non Muslims children are sitting at the back, would you accept a Hindu Swami (Priest) or a Christian Priest doing the same or a Buddhist Monk for that matter? Today, the Islamic infusion into schools has come to a stage where it becomes so uncomfortable among many non Muslim parents. There is a morning DOA where every student (irrespective of religion) has to attend during the assembly. On Friday’s there is an extra sermon being done in the morning. All Muslim children must learn Arabic even though it is an optional subject. It is made into a compulsion for all Muslims children.
Muslim parents who want to enrol their children in other language classes has to go through a tough time as now the “Arabic language” is mandatory. Parents are required to write a letter to explain on why they don’t want their children to learn Arabic. This is happening in many schools.
Non-Muslim parents are not happy but they have no choice but to swallow what is being done to their children. This is creating a chronic and serious Stress Fracture in National Unity.
At the moment, the PIBG is beautiful on paper. In reality, most school heads run the organization and just gets the YDP to cut ribbons. In one nearby school, since the AGM on 26/3/2008, the new committee has yet to call for the first meeting simply because they are waiting for the new HM to report for duty.
A query with a senior teacher by a committee members indicates that, the HM will call for a meeting when she is ready. This is the state of affairs in PIBG today that needs to be corrected. Parents Association should not be looking at micro issues involving the problems between individual parents and teachers. Parents just need to read more about PIBG and be vocal about the association. Parents and teachers just need to communicate effectively and take arguments professionally.
The problem is many teachers “cepat merajuk” when they lose their arguments professionally. In a similar note some parents also behave the same. In many school PIBG is failing simply because parents/teachers don’t read the constitution and they don’t understand the role of the PIBG. Having said so, school heads and MOE should shoulder the bigger blame and force all PIBG to, have a standard constitution and not give too much power to the HM in running the PIBG. The power of the HM officially is as an advisor only but now it is like the “Advisor” who is running the show. The HM is now the “Advisor ++’
Coming back to the main issue of having a Parent Association, my thought is yes, we must do it but with a clear bigger agenda to look into macro issues at the National Level and not at the micro level.
I have high respect for the well known and established International schools in Malaysia.. such as Garden International, ISKL, Alice Smith…and others)….i hope this schools wont get influenced by the malaysian culture of education or being pressured by the MOE to change their way of teaching( since malaysian students are now being allowed to attend international schools.)
Some international schools are not so happy with this introduction and been pushed/forced to introduce more subjects just to cater the malaysian student ( previously was only cater to malaysian student who were formerly from other international schools or for malaysian children who were staying abroad and were already studying abroad and cant joint the malaysian education system).
i feel once the MOE should not interfere with the international school systems which have been proven to produce children with well balanced education ( not only academically but also thinking and maturity wise.)
From what gathered.. they are quite numbers of MOE personalss who also playing their roles in the international schools..(as advisers,or behind the screen….) for some….( you know what i mean). or else the international schools will have hard time with MOE.
Like they say nothing is spared..nothing comes free nowadays…even the international schools are not been spared.
Anyway all the best for in your struggle for betterment of malaysian education. We those days used to have such a high respect to our alma mater…and our talented,matured teachers.
“in one particular school, the “Pengerusi Kelab Kebajikan Guru” choose to attack the PIBG for not paying them enough money in running extra class”
Instead of referring to a “particular school”, you should name the school. Then your article will have some credibility. Otherwise readers like me will assume that the incident quoted is merely your own concoction created just to embellish your article.
If what you quote is true and not merely an unfounded rumour or a concoction you need not fear having to withdraw your statement and apologise under threat of a lawsuit for slander.
I did finish reading the rest of your article because of the lack of credibility which I explained above.
Dear sir,
I’m a teacher myself, and though I agree with you on some points, I could not but shake my head at others. Being teacher is more than just teaching; we are the school’s gardeners, IT technicians,.. you get the idea. We don’t have secretaries, we supervises co-curricular activities, so on and so forth.
I’m not trying to win your sympathy. But more often than not teacher as a profession is always under attack. Bear in mind that a typical parent would only have to watch over 2 to 5 children; a typical teacher have to keep track of at least 150. Each with different personalities and abilities. While teachers have not to worry about bringing up the kids, they do have to cope with all the personalities at school. And if you think your little angels are as angelic at school, i suggest you give ANY school a visit, and see for yourself.
Please, look at things both ways before you attack. Be proactive, and if possible, be a teacher yourself to answer your own accusations. Just like there are rotten engineers who pocket money in a deal, so are there rotten personel in ANY profession. I guess it’s easier to blame teachers.
have a nice day.
Where back in the late 60’s and 70’s, Pendidikan Islam subject is made compulsary for all students irrespective of their race and religions in primary one to six. We are even force to learn how to write and read jawi and the Al-Quran, until some of us (the non-muslim) are well verse in its teaching and even better than some of the muslim students. Personally, i have no regrets for it made me wiser in choosing side later on. The ironic was, we are not only asked to learn jawi and Al-Quran but we are also have to bear with the Ustaz’ way of teaching, where canning and spanking are their normal brutal way of punishment.
We are the unlucky batches when bridge classes abolished, leaving us with the only choice, Malay Medium. We were thought about patriotism and anything to do with British and/or English are bad. Pengajian Islam was made compulsary until Sijil Rendah Pelajaran (SRP). In Tingkatan IV to VIs, although it is not compulsary but majority of us (non-muslim) took the subject for it is the easiest to score high grades. (the system need us to get more higher grades subjects to qualify us for futher education).
Knowing the importance of English came during my years in the higher learning institution. Most of the subjects are in Bahasa Malaysia but some lecturers are conducting classes in English and most text books available are in English. The only education we get are from what the lecturers feed us. That is the reason why only a handful graduated with 1st class honour degree. Now you understand the reason why my English is poor. Nobody to blame but ourselves for being ‘over patriotic’.
Touching on the subject pertaining to Parents Association, Parents Teachers Association and Ministry of Education, i could’t agree more. I am delighted to learn that there are still some muslim parent out there with an open mind and understand the very fundamental issues affecting us with the teachers, head masters and education authority’s attitude in handling today’s teaching and education system in our beloved country. I am not against Islam or any religion for that matter but they should know how to respect others with different faith, for it is provided in our constitution about religious freedom. In forcing others to tolerate our belief while neglecting the very fundamental right of the other, won’t serve any good but hatred.
Personally, i am in favour with the idea of forming an independent parents association in dealing with MOE and the education system, provided that it is always guided or headed by someone with a rightious and open mind (non-religious fanatics), otherwise it will serve no purpose or even worst.
I for one, don’t believe in totally FOC concept in everything in life (except farting, as humor goes) but teachers must be fully dedicated to educate our childrens and to earn our trust in them. I knew a few teachers friend of mind and my neighbour (a teacher too) always grumbling about the long hours they spent in school cause them with no time to carry out their side bussinesses. Also agree that some teacher took the teaching career due to the unavailability of other alternative. Agree to the statement that a few teachers are dedicated and has a vision in their profession but can’t stand out among the unprofessional majority. If there is any suggestion to form an independent parent association with proper agenda, guess, it won’t face any difficulty to gain support from qualified parent nationwide. Let us make our education equally affordable to all Malaysian.
c h Ong
I have sent you an email with the name of the school. It was not name publicly because of my respect to the decent GB. I dont have to lie. The threat was made infront of 300 parents during AGM!
Dhana
Thank you .
From your writing, it suggest that you are offended. What is the difference between NOWDAYS AND 30 YEARS AGO. I know about children behavior in school. I am in school regularly. For your info, I am the PTA chairman of a school.
Are you suggesting that in the old days there are less students. In fact the number of students per class now is lower than before.
I understand your anger but as I said, there are few good teachers nowdays. May I suggest that you make your anger into something positive where you work with other good teachers and improve the image of the profession and get rid all the bad teachers . Start small. Work in your school.
In my children school, we now have a campaign where we only reward and respect the “Profesionall and dedicated teachers only” This is now putting pressure on the lazy bums who doesn’t do their basic task regularly… i.e. teach
Dhana, May I suggest you re read the article again. If you are a good teacher, you have my respect and you should not be offended as the article only attack those lazy and unprofessional teachers. Do you accept teachers that thereatened parents using their children! In our shcool, the previous Lady HM is like that, my child was threathened.
Drrafick,
Thank you for writing this article! I totally subscribe to your opinion. As a mother of a 7 years old boy, I was totally dumbstruck by the primary school system. My son has just started his Year 1 education. He dislikes rigid teaching system and when I realised this; my husband and I agreed to move him to a different school which has shorter school period.
Our problem with the previous HM started when we moved our son to the other school. My son’s textbooks and workbooks were taken back by the old school (even after the reassurance of his previous class teacher that he can keep his books when he moved). When he started his studies in the new school, he was without school books for more than 5 weeks. His present class teacher informed that she was trying to get his books from the previous school which is only 2 KM away.
I decided that I could not wait any longer; thank God for our family in Kota Kinabalu and my in laws in Kuching and praise the lord for the internet we manage to purchase all the textbooks and workbooks from three different locations.
My son is now happily attending SJK(C) Chung Hwa Labuan. The school system is very relax and the HM and teachers are satisfactory.
My husband and I still wonder what happen to the other chinese school in Labuan! Is it the school system, the HM or MOE? Only God knows the answer!
I dread the day when my son encounters his secondary education!
Teachers comes in all sorts and types, from dedicated to downright lazy. But, most are plain average, just trying to get by, doing what they’re supposed to do and nothing more.
Some teachers encourage students to ask them anything that they do not understand after class, say in the staff room.
Some take pains to REALLY teach and make the students understand the lessons. Even doing that over and over again until they are understood.
I used to have a teacher to comes in and asked the monitor to copy the indicated pages onto the blackboard. This teacher will then put on her sunglasses and sleeps while sitting upright.
But the worst teacher I had was an English teacher. To him, English is a non-teaching subject. Everyone in our class spoke English anyway. So, he would just comes in and tells us to answer questions from page X to page Y. Then he would dissapears from the class. At times he would be doing his own work like writting stuffs. Or worst, as he was the school football coach, he would bring in his foolballers and discuss football with them, all during English class.
Teachers, I’ve seen them all. TO ALL TEACHERS WHO ARE READING THIS, SO WHICH ONE ARE YOU?
Come to SRJK (C) Lick hung where the candiddate was elected
can be absent .Strange !!!
All this nonsense started when corporal punishment was banned and the students became pampered for the 11 years they were in school. All the above commentators blame teachers for all the turmoil in schools, but none of them dare blame the students we have nowadays.
Have you seen the students who refuse to study and then blame the teacher when they fail the exams?
Have you seen the students who attend school 2 or 3 days a week, without any reason for their absence? Their parents know and seemingly approve of their children’s acts. There was an Indian girl with a record 110 days absence from her school in Form 2, and when she was tranferred out to a nearby school in Form 3, she broke that record by an additional 20 days!
The education system will only improve when teachers are allowed to hang some of these rascals during assembly.
Doc,
I think your article generally gives a true and fair view about teachers and the state of the teaching profession.I am not a teacher myself,but I truly respect and admire the professional teachers that I have met then and now.
I just wish to add that in my view I do not think most of the unprofessional teachers were like that from the beginning.There are some people who joined the teaching profession as a matter of expediency or convenience at first.Then as time goes by,some change for the better.There are also some who joined the profession with dedication and enthusiasm.Then as time goes by,some change for the better or for worse.So why is this happening?Why are some teachers professional while others are not?
I think it has got something to do with the era that we are living now.During my schooling days(early 70s late 80s), if a teacher reprimanded or disciplined me at school,it would be of no use for me to complain to my parents.They would say that I deserved it as I must have done something wrong.I do remember my father telling my class teacher that she can punish me however she sees fit if I misbehave.That was the level of trust and confidence existing at that time between parents and teachers.
Nowadays,I think such trust and confidence have been eroded or vanished.Also, I have noticed a trend where some parents and their children do not respect the teachers or the teaching profession like they used to.But on the other hand,I must admit that the type and intensity of the corporal punishment sometimes meted out by overzealous teachers nowadays can be arbitrary or border on abuse ,I guess.
So I guess both parties need to try to communicate better so that mutual expectations/respect can be met.I hope this is possible as I for one believe that it is crucial for teachers to be professional and for parents to support such teachers in the development and education of our future generations.
Hi Drrafick,
Thank you for writing. We know that the MOE factory has somewhat churn out less and less professional and dedicated teachers. How do I know? Having teachers in the family including my wife, we saw how the level of teaching has drop since the introduction of the often fail teaching system starting with the 3 M system by TDM. To put matter worst, we now have an education minister who know nuts about the teaching profession.
Most teachers nowadays adopt the ” tidak apa attitude ” and as long as they get paid at the end of the month, its fine. But I wouldn’t blame those lazy bum much …I put the blame within the MOE for its failure to filter the weeds and for the creation of ” the little napoleons” that we have in school nowadays.
Today, instead of just teaching, the teachers has to also put up with the demands from parents whom at times seems ridiculous. All this add to the presure of the teacher as a mentor and on top of that we now have students who are not just rude but down right disrespectful.
As far as I am concern, I ONLY respect those who believe and PRACTICE what they have taken oath to. To the lazy bums and those nuts in MOE, may you rot in HELL.
Doc,
Thank you for the explanation. I agree with you on some points, and especially about the threat being handed out at school. For the other earlier points, i agree to disagree
I wasn’t a teacher before, i was an engineer by training, worked as one and realized its not just my cup of tea… and I took this career because of my choice, because I love teaching and I love seeing the ones in my class reaching their full potential
Teaching itself is already a reward, as the saying goes.
I did admit that not all teachers are self-sacrificing angels. My point is, knowing full well that ANY profession in this world has its share of rotten individuals, why must the teaching profession be on the frontpage all the time? I could have easily gone back to engineering, earning money, if i want to. but i dont, because i LOVE teaching. it was never a burden to me. But people’s opinion and generalisation made it a burden to hear. seriously, the only way to understand a teacher, is to BE one. not merely observing one.
As ive mentioned, i do agree there are lots of teachers out there of substandard quality. i reprimand them, some of them my colleagues, almost every day.
You’ve asked the difference between back then and today. the answers for that are aplenty; handphones, gangsterism, parents pressure on their children, parents pressure on their children to attend unnecessary tuition, the abolishment of corporal punishment, the lack of enforcement from MoE…. would you then, through logic, assume that the few hours children spent in school shaped them to be who they are? partially maybe, but not even reaching 50%. it all starts at home, even for teacher’s children.
we are human being after all.
again, my apologies for being riled up. i know the original article you wrote is about PTA, and i agree on your points concerning that issue… i just feel that somebody need to defend those hardworking teachers, instead of generalising them.
thank you.
Dear Dhana
1.) I did not generalized. Sorry if the article give such impression.
2) I said very clearly that we need to reward professional and dedicated teachers. In fact in our children school we are running a scheme to identify and reward the dedicated teachers.
3) The good teachers need to weed out the bad ones
4) So much has been said about the problem of children in school and I dont deny what you said.
5) Here we are concern about non performing teachers, who doesn’t enter class, do not teach and do not mark books. In this article I am addressing this issues.
6) What about a teacher that takes one step further and act as the Head honcho of a teachers club and demand the PIBG to take care of their welfare and failing which they will make life difficult for our children
7) In my children school, there has been complains parents who are very vocal, their children exam papers are given lower marks. I cite an example of 2 children who always scores between no 5 and 6 each year and in last year exam their position drops to no 13, simply because PIBG gave present to No 1 to No 12. When we verify, we found there some prima facie on the allegation
I believe you are sincere, honest and dedicated to the profession. You can lead the movement in your school to get rid of the bad apples. If you are successful then I will invite you to my children school and find ways to do the same in this so called controlled school
Thank you doc,
I would like to apologize for my remarks. the issue plaguing your school is terrible. in my school, the PTA is rather good, not excellent, but functioning effectively enough. The situation you’ve described in your article is something i’ve just heard of; i knew some teachers are bad, but not to that extent. I am as shocked as you are, sir.
now that ive seen where you come from, i do agree with your recommendation. I wish you the best sir, for although it is an almost Herculean task, it is not impossible
as for me, i will continue doing what i can to improve my school and the PTA there. and to learn from others. thank you Doc.
P/S: hope you dont mind the absence of proper punctuations in my comments.
I fully agreed wth what u mentioned. It happen in my children school too. Blacklisted those parent that brought up issues during PIBG AGM. So dont talk so much. Reason : it getting late. Imagine, having PIBG AGM at Tues night so that not many parent are un able to attend and no one will the against the so call HM committees. Can anyone tell me y are we having d AGM and what is PIBG for? Let me tell u, PIBG JUST to give out monies and say nothing.why?? HM is d most powerful person in d school. He can do what he/she want but no u. Hi, James Lee it happen in children school too. Next time, group up some parent …so called menu to be committees but bear in mind the HM might disliked u and u will be listed in HM black book. By d way, do u know that my children school dont even issue receipt of payment when requested.
I am a teacher myself & I think what you just described does occur in some schools, with some teachers. MOE seems to be running the schools with iron fist via the JPN (state edu dept) and the PPD (district edu off). The dependence on exam results are also putting a strain on the teachers, which is why they come up with extra classes and books. Schools are ranked based on their exam results & PPD makes it compulsory for us to send in every exam result of each student so that they can compare them with other schools & threaten us if the results are found to be below their acceptable level. Teachers performance are based on the exam results of their students & are also compared to their colleagues’ achievement. So teachers respond to that by focusing on boosting exam results alone, which results in the childs’ personality & skills not rightfully developed. We are only human…
Guru adalah manusia biasa. Just a human being. Tiada manusia yg sempurna. Right? Saya menjd guru selama 18 tahun. 12 tahun di kawasan luar bandar. Duit guru yg bnyk diderma kpd pljr utk p&p termsk bhn fotostat. Keluarga mrk susah. 6 tahun di kws bandar @ pekan la (small town). Ramai la anak org kaya tp mslh masih sama. Guru hanya ada 7 hari cuti utk kecemasan. Guru boleh dipanggil bertugas pd masa cuti sekolah. 2 hari (sabtu) dalam satu bulan boleh diadakan mesyuarat atau kursus dalaman utk guru keluar pd masa p&p. Di sekolah saya tiada sebarang duit yg diterima guru untuk kelas tambahan, tiada duit minyak utk membawa pelajar ke aktiviti kokurikulum di luar, tiada duit makan utk guru ke sebarang akt luar. Guru mengajar kelas tambahan semasa cuti sekolah. Cuti keluarga terpaksa ikut jadual kelas masa cuti… Tp saya tak kisah ini adalah amanah dan tanggungjawab saya…… Jika hari ini berdiri seorang peguam menang bicara ia bermula dari seorang guru….
Cikgu Syon
Alangkah indah dan seronoknya jika cikgu mengajar di sekolah anak saya. Cikgu sudah menonjolkan satu contoh dan sikap yang positif.
Di KL, semuanya duit dulu..
Penilitian saya mendapati jurang professionalisma guru di antara guru guru luar bandar dan guru guru di bandar adalah sangat luas.
Sikap professionalism yang sangat tinggi boleh di dapati dari guru guru di luar bandar.
Choco
The problem is, at my children school, a significant percentage do not even teach properly…
This is supposed to be a control school. The only thing that is controlled is the students and not the quality of the teachers
kerana nila setitik rosak susu sebelangga………….
I would like to respond but have not read enough. I will go through later and compare my experience with you. Please visit our pibg site which was only set up recently.
[...] reading a blog about teachers in Malaysia, I feel like this noble profession has gone down the drain. Not that all teachers are bad. Most [...]
Yes. There is always a rotten apple (or maybe more) amidst the good ones. Be it teachers, lawyers, politicians (ooppss… I may have struck a wrong chord here but as the Malay saying goes, siapa makan cili akan terasa pedas), doctors, engineers, police, etc. It all boils down to intergrity and ethics. What you know is wrong is downright wrong no matter how well you justify it.
My younger sister teaches English at a remote school in Sarawak. Let me tell you how remote this place is… first one has to travel a few hundred kilometres from Kuching city to a town called Sri Aman. From Sri Aman, one then catches the long boat ride and travel another 1 - 2 hour(s) depending on the river current to get to Nanga Tibu where she teaches. She resides in Nanga Tibu at the moment and the boat is even more expensive than Air Asia flight. If there are no other passengers, one has to charter the whole boat at approximately RM80.00 one way! My sister accepted her post and has been staying and teaching at Nanga Tibu for almost 2 years now. She goes back to Kuching on every weekend whenever she can to shop for workbooks and teaching materials. As the students are poor (some even share school uniforms with siblings) and their parents are mostly farmers and fishermen, they can’t even afford proper workbooks. As dedicated as she is ensuring that the students are still able to learn, my sister even photocopy the workbook and charge the students only RM1. There were times when even RM1 is not affordable that she charge them nothing. To keep the class excited about learning English, she has to find ways to improvise the syllabus. She does it through visual and even songs. She’ll even award the good students with simple things like novelty pencils & erasers to keep them excited about learning English. Not an easy feat in a small remote town where the community are mainly farmers and fishermen. I am not too sure if they have a PTA of any sort. I’ll have to find out from my sister. She gets harship allowance which I am sure she spends them all on teaching materials and photocopying workbooks and small little rewards for her students. Whenever she does not charge her students for the photocopied workbooks, the parents would sometimes give fresh veges or fish to my sister. Of course, my sister insisted that it was not necessary but they insisted it was their way to thank her.
Now there’s the KPLI that offers degree holders fast track learning to earn a teaching diploma enabling graduates with opportunity to be employed by MOE. I have nothing against the program. It offers graduate employment opportunities. I have nothing against that too. Again, remember that there are always some rotten apples amidst the good ones.
My sister graduated from the Teacher’s Traning College in Sarawak with a diploma in teaching. No, she was not part of the KPLI program. She has shared with me some of her thoughts about the fast track program. It is entirely her own opinion and it may not be entirely agreeable by some. In fact, she knows it will never be agreeable at all.
Here’s what she has to say about the KPLI program…
A golden opportunity for unemployed graduates
A quick win solution to resolve unemployment rate amidst the graduates
A golden opportunity for those looking for a job that pays a graduate salary with nothing less than 30 days of leave in a year (not including semester break and school being over in half a day)
I got few friends which is a school teacher. What I would like to emphasize here is they are heavily burden with other activities which sometimes I seems is not related to teaching. They are so busy with these extra workloads and it seems become norm for them. More worst, some of them even have to do the clerk’s job, when I ask why, these clerk has been like that for many years, and the headmaster also can’t do anything.
One of them even said he don’t care whether the student listen while he is teaching as long as they didn’t make noise in the class, everything is fine. He said if you scold the student, next day you will see his parents coming to school with press looking for you. That’s what I believe Malaysia Education is become. Malaysia Boleh!
I am a mother with 2 children ( 6 and 4). My biggest nightmare was deciding which education system I wanted to place my firstborn in. I went to the Convent myself and am very proud of it. My teachers were very dedicated and taught because of their passion for it and more importantly they knew their subjects and knew it well. No doubt they were paid to do the job but they never once made us feel like they are teaching us because they have to.
However, the situation these days is completely different. The teachers lack the dedication and knowledge which the teachers even in the 1980s possessed. These days if a child is to question the teacher the child is either told to “keep quiet, what I am teaching you is enough for you to pass” or ” don’t think you are so smart”. Is this what we want to teach our children? To be docile and just accept what is given to them or do we want to question and discover things for themselves?
I want my children to learn, explore and question what their teachers tell them. I want them to discover things for themselves through lessons in class as well as reading and researching. I don’t want them to be spoon fed.I want them to ask ” why?…why not?…how come? and sadly I don’t see that possibly happening in the Malaysian School System.
So I had to decide and decide I did…I picked the international system and my son has been in the system for the past 2 years as he entered school when he turned 5. If I was asked whether I have any regrets…my answer is no. I look at my son and what he learns in school and look at what his friends learn in the national system, I know I made the right choice.
The sad thing is if this way 25 years ago, I would not have even had to make that choice. My choice would have been very clear… and diferent from the choice I made now…
Doc
As promised Ihave gone over your article again and wish to offer my view. Yes, the examples you cited may have been from facts. However there were also instances when one cannot help but feel the generalisation of such though you may not intend to. I hope I am not repeating points offered by others earlier. However I believe your concerns may be summarised as follows:
1. Grateful to teachers - only professional and dedicated teachers. Agreed. But it would be an opportunity missed if by doing that the other teachers feel neglected, unappreciated or whatever through no fault of their own. Granted there are thise bad ‘mempelams’ but all profesions have that. Do we remember the bogus doctors, bogus ministry, bogud policeman, useless engineers, cheating lawyers…..so on and so forth. So, to blame teachers totally for the malise is rather unfair. If you say there are only a few good teachers, then we should also find out why? How many whistle blowers do we come across? How many decent civil servants? How many responsible parents who do not easily jump on the teachers for their own failure? Before the PRU12, how many good citizen who dares to stand up? Teachers are aslo normal human beings not aliens. If by rewarding the dedicated teachers mean an education process for the others, then by all means. For all you know these ‘unprofessional’ teachers may not even be aware of what professional and dication mean. Can we then blame the teachers’ teachers in the training colleges for this failure? Then the blame game continue and the fingers will keep pointing in all directions but to oneself. My point is, the whole system in our life needs revamped, overhauled or whatever that is necessary. We need to go back to basics. Well I could go on but perhaps in another day.
2. The profession has gone down the drains - tell me which profession is still intact since the last 25 years? We are all full of rotten and smelly elements among us only a few can walk tall and held their heads high. Individuals make up a society and if we as individualas choose not to do anything against the type of ‘Kelab Guru Chairman’ you refer to then do we solely blame that guy or that lady HMs? Don’t tell me the 300 or so parents were so gutless to stand up to the antics of one guy of even 13% of the teachers? If he committed criminal intimidation then why not make a police report and ensure that the guy got his lessons? Indeed it is the easy way out to talk/blame on hindsight but courageous persons act when courage is required.
3. School Heads run the PIBG and the YDP cuts ribbons. Same argument as above. Is the school head so powerful that no one dares to take a risk going against him/her?
4. Parent Associations - the objective may be noble but is it really necessary if only we could make PTA a really functional organisation?
From where I sit, as a society, we all have our role to play. Yes, some like MOE, JPN, PPD may have bigger roles in so far as the administration of the education system is concerned. But what about elements outside the schools like local councils which allow illegal entertainment centres to sprout attracting all children, corporate citizens who provide all sorts of distraction to students from focussing on their education be it Jom Heboh, fiesta this, fiesta that - even those companies which offer employment to school kids - exploiting them for cheap labours?
So, let teachers do their work - being teaching professionals. Let all schools being run like a corporate firm - having a leader and managers to manage the adiministrative affairs instead of burdening the teachers. Let us all in the community come together as a Support Network for the school for safety, security, resources and anything and turn all schools into the nucleus of learned societies which encourage excellence instead of bigotary, prejudice, hatred and suspicious.
I have started within my circle - giving whatever I afford, encouraging whenever I can and praying that I am steadfast on the right path for the future generations of this beloved Malaysia.
I feel the gist of the matter of the whole thread is not who or what is to blame for this decline in the respect for the teaching profession. You have hit the nail on the head when you mentioned that present day teachers regard their profession NOT as a profession but as a means to an assured monthly income, with other Govt. assured perks. The selection process for enrollment in Teachers college also leaves much to be desired. The level and standard of applicants for teachers …that is laughable. We now have some qualified English teachers unable to read or write a decent grammatically correct sentence in English.
WE cannot put the blame entirely on the MOE or the Teachers Colleges since they are getting their trainees from the bottom of the barrel… rejects from all other Universities.
Applicants for teaching now make the option their last desperate attempt at getting some form of professional qualification. I feel sorry for those who are in the teaching profession who have a high regard and pride in their chosen career. I feel sorry for those parents caught up in the race to get ahead through their children, trying to live their dreams via their children’s future, hoping that maybe what they are not can be achieved by their children. I feel sorry for the children who are enrolled in our Malaysian schools where such a load of deplorable, inept, non-beneficial-to -their-future teaching modules as well as the unguided direction of the Curriculum are put in place by the Authorities. I feel sorry mostly for those teachers caught in such a situation where their own ineptness, lack of professionalism and their self-serving provincial mindset, add to their own misery and those they are supposed to nurture and guide. They should have NOT chosen the easy way out by opting to become teachers. The path of least resistance invariably leads to the city dumps.
There is no sure way out of this mess that started when many misguided politicians who were made Min of Education applied their poorly informed intellect (if you can call it itellect at all) to this process of nation building through our schools. There has been many lost generations who were “raised”, the products of such mismanaged educational systems. Unable to make their own way whether in our country even less in the international arena.
Malaysia bolih indeed!!
Dear sir, i think u shud read this issue:
hannahyeoh.blogspot.com/2008/06/set-our-schools-free.html