KUALA LUMPUR, July 24 — The Ministry of Education (MOE) has been urged to improve or use more effective strategies to reduce the pressure facing students, teachers and parents in implementing home-based teaching and learning (PdPR).
Malaysian Psychiatric Association (MPA) president Dr Hazli Zakaria said although some of them were now comfortable with PdPR, attention should also be given to those who were still trying to adapt to the system.
He said those who still had problems with the implementation of PdPR needed to be helped.
All quarters, he said, including the MOE, should use the opportunity through PdPR to find solutions towards producing high quality students, who know how to use their knowledge and not just get to get good results in examinations.
“Unfortunately, even in this situation (Covid-19 pandemic), we are still obsessed with the results on how many A should be awarded to the schools, teachers and parents. We have to look at this situation and take advantage of it, try to modify on what we are trying to achieve,” he told Bernama.
Dr Hazli, who is a psychiatrist at Alaminda Specialist Clinic, said among the actions that could be taken was to obtain accurate information on the experiences of those who went through PdPR for improvements to be made.
“We have to get (the information) from the grassroots themselves, comprising students, parents, teachers, administrators, and all of them have to provide the information because the data that is very useful to improve the quality of learning in the country,” he said.
Apart from that, he said the MOE should also take into account the differences between schools in the urban and rural areas because every school has a different situation and with accurate information provided by the relevant parties, it would make implementation of PdPR smoother.
He said the policy set by the MOE was already good, but its implementation should be more specific and aimed to the target to achieve the desired objectives.
“I’m sure the government is doing its best to deliver the best transformation for everyone involved, but to achieve the objectives, it requires a more transparent platform where all parties can share.
““We see this as a way for us to work together, rather than to find fault and the changes we are hoping for, do not happen,” he said.
Dr Hazli advised those involved in the implementation of PdPR to not just expect the government to solve their problems because efforts to improve teaching and learning require the cooperation of all quarters.
The MOE, he said, had done its best and that it should not be sensitive to complaints from those who were unhappy with the implementation of PdPR.
“MOE has done its best, but some improvements are needed. We have to get feedback. We get those who are less comfortable with the current PdPR method, while those who are skilled at it should be appreciated,” he added.
On July 17 this year, the Ministry of Education (MOE) announced that the schooling session via PdPR will continue until August 31 this year after taking into account the current Covid-19 situation and following discussions with the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the National Security Council (NSC).
The MOE has also decided that schools will be opened in stages for physical teaching and learning rom Sept 1 after taking into consideration the current vaccination rate in the country.
As of July 16, a total of 253,366 teachers and administrators (61.30 per cent), as well as 10,876 support staff (46.33 per cent) had received at least one dose of the vaccine.
— Bernama
