22 Improvements In The Malaysia Education System Parents Hope To See.

If you have read our previous post, you would have some idea on the sort of constant changes and anxiety parents had to go through for almost two decades.

That is why parents were so excited over the appointment of the new Minister of Education and everyone was engaged in a discussion on who they would like to see taking on the role of the Minister of Education and what changes they would like to see.

Similarly, our group, the Malaysia Primary School Parents on Facebook group was alive with discussion on this topic. One of our members has summarized all of this discussion to some semblance of order.

22 improvements in the Malaysia Education System parents hope to see.

"Parents" in this case refers to parents from our Facebook group which consist more than 27,000 members. Of course there are more but it is not possible to go deep into each and everyone of them. We have tried to keep the issues mentioned as brief and straight to the point as possible for the sake of simplicity.

It is impossible to include everyone's suggestions. Different schools will have different concerns. Those that are in this letter are concerns that affect most, if not all, schools.

As we regularly discuss the state of our country’s education system within the group, we would like to take this opportunity to highlight some of our concerns for the consideration and justification of our new Education Minister.

1. We hope that the Ministry will take a fresh look at why the syllabuses for our BM, Tamil and Chinese subjects are so incredibly hard. We have to ask ourselves if a syllabus as difficult as this is helpful or harmful for children in their formative years. Children who have poor vocabulary in the languages will also face difficulty in Math and Science in those languages.

2. We humbly ask that you entertain the possibility of removing examinations for lower primary pupils (Primary 1-3) and to give teachers more autonomy to conduct their classes in that three-year period.

We hope that with this step, teachers will have ample time to help pupils build solid foundations in their language subjects rather than resort to rote learning and memorisation in order to keep up with the syllabus.

In line with this, we also ask that the length of periods per subject be lengthened to reduce the number of books students need to bring to school, and to allow teachers enough time to complete their lessons.

3. The removal of examinations for tahap 1 will also give teachers breathing room to inculcate certain values in our young ones, such as independence, innovativeness, critical thinking skills, civic-mindedness, respect for elders, a love for the environment, an appreciation for our way of life and culture, etc.

4. As we are living in an age of consumption, we would like the Ministry to recognize the need for subjects like art, music, drama and creative writing which allow self-expression in children.

We would also like to see more outdoor learning as well as development of life skills alongside financial literacy, if those are not too much to ask.

5. Let our children play during recess. Make the schools let them play, and allow for a longer recess time.

6. With children being chained to the desk to chase the syllabus, is it possible to consider putting more focus on Physical Education being used for actual physical activities rather than to be taken up by other subjects as substitute periods?

We also like to ask whether there is a necessity to have exams for Pendidikan Kesihatan and Pendidikan Jasmani?

7. If high-stakes exams are here to stay, please re-evaluate the need for requiring compulsory passes for subjects like History and Moral in public exams.

8. Please re-evaluate the difficulty gaps that appear to affect students when they transition from one tahap to the next e.g. Primary 3 to Primary 4, Primary 6 to Form 1 as well as Form 3 to Form 4.

On the subject of streaming students in Form 4, students are assigned to the streams (e.g. Science or Arts) based on their results rather than based on the student's personal interest. Students interest should be taken into account rather than sidelined at this juncture.

9. We also ask that KBAT be reviewed in terms of its implementation and whether it is actually producing students who think outside the box.

10. We’re hoping to see the return of English to Science and Mathematics subjects in the classroom in all types of schools. If this is not possible, then we ask that efforts be made to improve the declining English standards in our schools.

11. We fully support the Minister’s plan to free teachers from administrative filing and paperwork, to reduce the amount of homework as well as the size of classrooms, and to introduce teaching assistants to our classrooms.

Before the hiring of teaching assistants however, please ensure that new teachers are given their posting so they can start teaching and contributing to their assigned schools.

12. On top of that, we also hope for a better pay structure and continuous professional training to teachers, new and seasoned. In particular, we’d like to see English teachers go for certification from external parties.

13. At the same time, we urge that the Ministry also come down hard on teachers who have been found guilty of misconduct in schools. Transfers to another school or to a desk job are poor deterrents.

14. If we are truly aiming for a less exam-oriented education system, we hope that provisions that were alloted to schools based on student performance be allocated to schools that require funding for infrastructure and repairs instead.

15. While on the subject of budgets, we also ask that our new Minister look into the budget cuts that have been plaguing many public schools in the past few years.

16. Please update school student numbers and school statuses regularly to identify schools that may no longer be Sekolah Kurang Murid. Affected schools will require funding and manpower allocation as soon as possible to prevent overworking the existing teaching staff.

17. We hope for fair or increased allocation of funding to all sekolah kerajaan and sekolah bantuan kerajaan, in the hopes of reducing the donation drives that are required to keep the schools running.

18. We also hope that school tenders of any kind can be done open tender style, for transparency.
19. If there is a plan in the blueprint to regulate preschool education, we highly welcome it.

20. We hope that Ministry can also ensure that our education system as a whole be kept focused, free from political influence, racial and religious tones.

21. At school level, we're hoping to see more stringent enforcement (and possibly spotchecks) on the type of foods that are sold in school canteens, hygiene and cleanliness of canteens and school toilets, and that schools adhere to the no-caning policy as determined by the Ministry.

We also ask that any form of practices or policies that does not promote integration in school be firmly rejected.

22. Lastly and perhaps most importantly, we ask that any change that the new Ministry plans to implement in the system, be carefully planned out, communicated all the way down to the grassroots with the proper SOP, documentation, and training provided before the roll out begins.

Any efforts to keep parents in the loop is greatly encouraged and appreciated.

These are but just some of the concerns we have discussed within the group. There are many other aspects that could not be summarized in this post. We hope that by sharing this summary out, parents voices can be heard at last.

Credit for Images: Classroom Clipart