I am an NYDP in my children’s school PIBG. I have not read all comments but I would like to comment based on my experiences.

Nowadays, we meet a lot of different people both teachers and members of PIBG, including myself, who forget why we are here. Sometimes, things happen and we become emotional. Our natural reflex to defend ourselves and our opinion or ego!!! sometimes overrides our rational thinking. I have met both teachers and parents (including myself) in the AJK who let their ego rule the course of the meeting..

We have forgotten that we are all working for the good of our children and PIBG should be there not to burden the teachers but to help them do their duty. We should all walk side by side with the school’s admin. Most of us even over react when the teachers reprimand our children.
There are some teachers who over react to children too, but just imagine yourself handling 30-40 students at one time. We parents too over react when we are at home with our children and there are only 1, 2, 3, or 10 at home? Maybe we can say that it is their job but we are all humans and nobody is perfect. There will be bad apples but what profession doesn’t have them? Even some parents abuse their children too.

It is sad that this profession doesn’t anymore have that noble respect they deserve and it is sad too that some teachers become one because of necessity but I still believe that the dedicated and noble ones still outnumber the bad ones..my brother is a teacher and I have seen how he works. I personally think that the pay they receive does not compensate the hardwork and dedication they deserve. Sometime ago, their working hours were in question but they do continue their work even at home, unlike office jobs, we leave our work at the office and continue the next day and if we choose to stay back, we can claim overtime.

Nowadays, we people are becoming more self-centred and I do believe that it does boil down to religious background. It doesn’t matter what religion you practise, they all teach good things, but most of us do not practise what we profess. The price of modernization and development is taking a toll on us. We now live on a rocket’s pace and those who are on a turtles’ pace get run over while those who are on a rocket’s pace either step on others’ shoes or crash against each other and those who follow the rules of the universe reach their destinations safely and soundly.

Let us just hope that someday, we all wake up and tell ourselves that life is after all a very simple one that follows a very simple rule.” Don’t do to others what you do not want them to do unto you and what goes round comes round.”

Noreen

It is attractive to read your article and some response, but here i would like to know futhermore about pibg/pta. Would you please (who ever) to help me to find out the developing of the education law concerning pibg/pta. I need the statement that writen on education act 1966 about pibg/pta? Is there something new in further education act?
I mean, I want to know further about the education law concerning with pibg/pta in malaysia from the first year that government introduce.. Thank for the reply

hannahyeoh.blogspot.com/2008/06/set-our-schools-free.html

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.

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…

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!

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)

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

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.