Teachers the key to truly 'smart' schools

More urgent measures are needed to make national schools
the preferred choice for pupils of all races.

The Mid-Term Review of the Ninth Malaysia Plan restated the government’scommitment to make national schools the school of choice for all Malaysians. That will take much more than the proposals stipulate, writes Chok Suat Ling.

NST (30/6/08): Attracting Malaysians of all races to national schools is turning out to be a persistent thorn in the flesh for the Education Ministry.

Several assertive attempts and rousing statements later, the results on the ground are hardly palpable. The Mid-Term Review of the Ninth Malaysia Plan revealed that the enrolment rate of Chinese and Indian pupils in national primary schools last year was only six per cent and 40 per cent, respectively.

Recognising the importance of increasing the enrolment of pupils from the various ethnic groups in national schools, several recommendations were made to enhance their appeal.

Unfortunately, nothing substantially new or innovative was offered in the review. It will take more than adequate information and communication technology facilities in classrooms, technological training for teachers and improved teaching and learning methods to bring in the pupils.

Indeed, if these are the measures the ministry is relying on, it will only be skimming the surface of the problem. Consequently, it would be unrealistic to expect tangible results by the end of the 9MP period.

The problem stems from the perception that national schools do not offer a quality of education as high as Chinese schools, or that they are Malay (and thus, by extension, "Islamic"), or that teachers are not adequately skilled or up to desired standards.

The characteristically slow implementation of educational policies and worse, the flip-flops in decisions made and enforced, have not helped.

It has been argued that the teaching of Science and Mathematics in English has helped make national schools more attractive. Consequently, reversing it would be imprudent.

The government has said it would wait for the Primary School Assessment Test (UPSR) results at the end of the year before deciding whether to revert to Bahasa Malaysia the teaching of the two subjects.

An educationist says the ministry cannot use the UPSR as a yardstick: "It is absolutely the wrong barometer."

He says pupils, especially in vernacular schools, cannot be expected to perform well in both subjects in the upcoming UPSR.

"They are adjusting, especially the teachers. In Tamil schools, for instance, of the 7,800 teachers, fewer than 500 are trained to teach in English."

For several years since the introduction of the policy, Tamil schoolchildren have averaged only 30 per cent passes in their school tests for both subjects, he notes. If the ministry uses the UPSR results as the basis for its decision, it would a foregone conclusion that the policy will be reversed.

"That would be a shame because there is essentially nothing wrong with the policy," he says. "It just needs more time to mature. The weak link here is the teachers, not the policy."

Kamariah (not her real name), a Science teacher in a primary school in Petaling Jaya, admits that her command of English could be better. She struggles to teach in English but is keen to learn and does not mind pointers, even if they come from her pupils.

"I am very open with my pupils about my command of the language. I told them they should correct me if I make a mistake and they do. I once pronounced the word 'stomach' as 'store-much' in class and a few students diplomatically told me the correct pronunciation."

She points out that despite the initial difficulty, many teachers like her are finding things easier now. "We are adapting and getting used to teaching in English. But now, there's talk that we may go back to the way things were before. It is very disruptive. All the time we spent attending courses will be wasted."

Introducing Mandarin and Tamil in national schools would undoubtedly help bring in more Chinese and Indian pupils, but this has not materialised in most schools.

The excuse is either there are not enough pupils, or no available teachers. Ironically, Arabic, which is not the mother tongue of Malaysians, is compulsory for Muslim pupils, and even non-Muslims in some schools. This despite some schools acknowledging a shortage of teachers for the subject.

Mursyid Ikhwan says his son in Year One scored only 23 per cent for Arabic in the first-term test. "Most of his classmates failed the subject, too. Imagine, these children are barely able to form sentences in Bahasa Malaysia or English but are already subjected to a completely new language."

The Mid-Term Review also stipulated that the J-Qaf programme, which involves Arabic, khatam Quran (memorising the Quran), jawi and fardhu 'ain (basic religious knowledge for Muslim students), will be expanded to all schools nationwide. This is disconcerting when scheduling and the availability of teachers have yet to be sorted out.

The review mentioned that national schools will be made "smart" via the establishment of Internet centres. This commitment, while praiseworthy, does not address a more pertinent issue: how schools can evolve from institutions that merely use a lot of information technology to ones with a "smart" way of teaching and learning.

For schools to be "smart" in the intended sense of the word, the entire education system would need to be less focused on examinations and academic achievement.

Says Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia lecturer Azizah Yaacob: "Smart schools are about letting go of the old ways of teaching and giving more autonomy to students."

What is indisputable is that teachers are the most important element in making national schools the preferred choice. Laudably, this was acknowledged in the Mid-Term Review.

In seeking to attain the target of a 25 per cent complement of graduate teachers in primary schools and 100 per cent in secondary schools by 2010, the right sort of people must be drawn into the teaching profession -- those who want to be teachers; not those who have to be.

Bachok member of parliament Nasharudin Mat Isa thinks teacher training should be intensified as there is ample room for improvement in producing teachers of high calibre. "Something is obviously wrong with national schools for the non-Malays to have abandoned them."