Selangor Journal

Education Minister is merely good at talking but ignorant of teachers’ burden

BY CHANG LIH KANG
I take note of the Education Minister, Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid’s statement dismissing claims that teachers’ workload in schools are leaving them with no time to get close with students.
He said that teachers in this country are not burdened with the working hours as set by the international agency.

  1. To me, Mahdzir is not talking based on reality, in fact he was merely talking based on surface value. He needs to know that teachers’ workload is increasing when they are now required to carry out tasks outside the learning scope.

This extra burden has not only affected their actual duty as educators, in fact some teachers are living under work-stress besides having to get involved with co-curricular activities and attend various courses.

  1. Not only that, teachers are also forced to do administrative and clerical jobs. The implication is that these educators are unable to give full commitment to the quality and process of teaching and learning in the classroom.

Besides that, I also received complaints that papers supplied by the government are not enough for the materials to be photocopied to students.
Then, teachers must find other means to secure funds to buy papers. There are teachers who use their own money to buy papers.

  1. To me, the Malaysian Education Ministry (KPM) must play a role to address these problems. KPM must find a solution to provide extra funding to schools to buy papers for students’ use in schools. Not to cut education budget.

Teachers’ job which is getting increasingly tough and challenging is prone to put pressure on them. The job which is originally a form of responsibility is now beginning to feel like a burden.
This will surely cause a lot of distress to teachers. They are forced to do their work and the result will surely fall short of expectations.
If these burdens are eliminated, then each teacher will be able to fully commit and focus on teaching duties in the classroom to improve students’ performance in view of less workload.
In fact, the quality of our education system can also match that of other Asian countries and become technologically, theoretically and technically competitive.
#Chang Lih Kang is KEADILAN Youth Secretary cum Teja Assemblyman

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