Sunday March 28, 2010 Teachers in a trap

By PRIYA KULASAGARAN

From filing paperwork to organising events and managing irate parents, teachers today are feeling
pressured from everything else — save the act of teaching itself. educate@thestar.com.my

LIKE many of her fellow educators, Kelantanese primary school teacher Mazi* has a few gripes about her
work.“The main issue for me is getting pupils to take an interest in learning,” she says.“Some of them are
living well below the poverty line, and their parents are not too bothered about whether they do well in school
or not.“I feel like half my time in class is spent motivating these children instead of teaching them.”She adds
that her school’s physical infrastructure serves to add to pupils’ disinterest.“I’m not talking about newer
buildings or better classrooms - just basics like functioning school toilets.“When the learning environment is
not conducive, it makes it all the more harder to get pupils to care about education.”But Mazi sees these
problems as part and parcel of her job.“At the end of the day, teaching is all about nuturing students and
achieving this with whatever resources you have,” she says.It seems that for most, however, the burdens of
teaching may be just too much to bear.Just earlier this month, it was reported that teachers were considering
holding a demonstration to highlight their plight of being laden with “irrelevant work”.National Union of the
Teaching Profession president Hashim Adnan was quoted saying that overzealous state education department
heads and excessive paper work has affected teaching quality.‘’We are mostly doing clerical work in schools
and among our duties include collecting irrelevant data, attending courses, organising programmes and doing
correspondence work.‘’Also, since some schools were now Sekolah Berprestasi Tinggi, we are required to do
plenty of documentation work every day ... we are unable to focus in class,’’ Hashim said.Plans for the protest
have since been shelved, as the NUTP has made arrangements with the Education Ministry and is scheduled to
meet Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to resolve these issues.Suffice
to say, these grouses have been brought up by the union time and time again.In a survey carried out by the
NUTP in 2005, it was reported that almost seven out of 10 teachers say that they are under stress.When
contacted for this article, the NUTP declined any comment.

Duty juggling

For some teachers, pushing paper appears to be the most tedious aspect of their working day.“Aside from
marking students’ essays and homework, we have to fill out their personal records, health records and various
assessment reports,” says secondary school teacher Sharon*.“Activities such as the Nilam reading programme
may sound good in theory, but in reality they just provide an abundance of new forms to fill up.“In order to be
able to cope, I sometimes ask school prefects or class monitors to help me fill in the reports — it’s not
something I’m proud of, but it leaves me time to do some actual teaching.”Currently posted in a boarding
school, Wati* says that organising school events takes up too much time. “We have to coordinate sports days,
graduation days, camps, competitions — all of which are taxing.“While the bigger events do hold relevance for
the students, a good deal of these activities fail to achieve much besides pomp and an excuse for students to be
out of class,” she says.Yeo* says that it is not uncommon for teachers to juggle various roles at one
go.“Although my teachers’ training option was English, I now teach History in addition to my English
classes,” she says.“Under the teaching of Mathematics and Science in English policy (PPSMI), I was also
roped in to help the Mathematics teacher because her command of English was quite poor.“I also act as the
adviser of the school’s English society and volleyball team — this involves staying back late in school at least
twice a week.”Yeo adds that the responsibilities given have left her with little time to focus on developing her
skills.“I barely have time to prepare my lesson plans at the moment.“At the very least, I think that teachers
should be given roles that are relevant to their interests and expertise; that way, they can focus on being good
at a particular area for the benefit of their students.”

Parental pressure

In the NUTP survey mentioned, it was also found that a whopping 83% of respondents citied parents and
students as main sources of stress.According to primary school teacher Tan*, the results are hardly surprising
as teachers bear the brunt of blame for producing less-than-stellar students.“In addition to pressure from the
administration to ensure that all students make the grade, parents say we are not pushing their children hard
enough academically,” she says.“I’ve even had complaints from parents that I’m not doling out enough
homework!”Tan, who teaches in a vernacular school, adds that she is conflicted by the requirement to check
off boxes instead of educating young minds.“Ideally, I want to instill the love of learning among my pupils,
regardless of their ability.“In reality, I have to force them to mug for examinations so that they have a string of
A’s to show their parents.”For Wiliam*, the main source of pressure comes from not being able to discipline
his students.He says that parents are too quick to blame teachers, and relates an incident which occurred in his
secondary school in Selangor.“The discipline teacher had caught a student smoking on school grounds, and the
student was swiftly caned as a result,” says William.“The next day, the teen’s father arrived demanding to see
the teacher.“Before my colleague could explain why he had punished the boy, the father proceed to hurl vulgar
insults at the teacher, and even took a swing at him! Luckily, he missed.”While William says that he does not
condone corporal punishment, he places priority on maintaining school order.“Some students just do not
respond to reasoning, no matter how hard you try.“I think what makes them bold is knowing that they’ll have
their parents defending their actions,” he says.Secondary school teacher Jamilah* agrees, saying that the
teachers in her school avoid reprimanding students for the fear of parents.“I once scolded a student for handing
in her homework late, and for not putting enough effort into it.“My reward for doing so was to get screamed at
by the student’s mother.“Now, I don’t bother whether students hand in their work or not — it just means that
there are less books for me to mark,” says Jamilah.

apathy among trainees.Bakar offers a more cynical point of view, saying that the problems plaguing the
profession do not make it an attractive option for many.“The profession is one that demands sacrifice and
patience, but a good number of young teachers are only in it for the want of other options,” he
says.“Unfortunately, the reality is that teaching is not exactly the top choice for most talented individuals,
especially when they can get better paying jobs elsewhere.”
Sunday July 19, 2009

PPSMI not goodfor rural kids

By CLARA CHOOI
THE issue on the teaching of Mathematics and Science in English (better known by its Malay acronym
PPSMI) is indeed a sore topic amongst the teachers and students of rural schools.To them, the matter is like
trying to get a right-handed person to write with his left hand and then telling him to switch back to the right
just when he was getting used to the change.Although most are relieved that the Education Ministry had
decided to reverse the teaching of Maths and Science back to Bahasa Malaysia, they are also upset that the
PPSMI experiment had even been introduced in the first place.

During Deputy Education Minister Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi’s visit to rural schools in the town of Lenggong,
Perak, on Thursday, StarEducation had the occasion to interview several students and teachers and it was
proven that it had been an uphill struggle for them since the policy was put in place in 2003.

One teacher who refused to be named said that in rural areas like Lenggong, exposure to the use of English
language as the daily lingua franca was close to nil.

“Our students often converse to one another in the language that they are used to. English, to them, is just a
subject they need to pass in the examinations.

“Unlike schoolchildren in the city, our students don’t often come into contact with the English-speaking
community. Many are the children of farmers, estate workers or small-time businessmen who do not
understand much English themselves.

“Bahasa Malaysia, on the other hand, is accepted as the common language between all the races so they are
used to learning their subjects using it,” he said.

Hence when PPSMI was introduced in 2003, both students and teachers alike were left in a lurch, he said.

“The students were worried and so were we. Maths teacher Abdul Rahman Sidek (pic) of SMK Dato’ Ahmad,
Lenggong,

said that despite the training course he had to undergo, it was still difficult for him to make the switch.

“I was trained to teach and learn the subject in Bahasa Malaysia. So were my students.

“Suddenly, I had to teach in English. If it was difficult for me, imagine how much harder it was for my
students. At least I already understood the subject - they had to learn the subject and on top of that, learn the
terms again in a different language,” he said.

He added that there were times when he needed to explain certain mathematical theories in greater detail but
found himself stuck because his immediate reflex was to explain it in Bahasa Malaysia.

“Even their grades began to fall by at least 5% to 10% and they had to work harder than they used to.
“Sometimes when I am teaching them something new, I see blank faces staring back at me. Then one student
would say, ‘Cikgu cakap apa, sebenarnya?’ (What are you saying, teacher?),” he said.

Abdul Rahman, however, does not oppose the idea of improving the quality of English language in schools.

“But this is not the way. We cannot blame our students for not performing well in Maths and Science when
they are taught in English.“It is not that they are bad in the language, but it is more because they were made to
switch so suddenly,” he said.Several students from the school agreed with their teacher’s opinion.

Fifteen-year-old Siti Basyira Farhana said that the switch had affected her grades tremendously.

“I scored 5As in my UPSR. When I was in Form One, however, I had to learn the two subjects in English, I
only managed 2As.

“It was a great blow to me but I knew I had already tried my best,” she said.Muhamad Afiq Mohd Azni, 14,
said that although he managed well enough, he still preferred to learn Maths and Science in Bahasa Malaysia.

“I am aware that when I go to college later, I will probably have to learn my subjects in English.“But for now,
if given the choice, I find it easier to understand my subjects in Bahasa Malaysia. I am more used to it,” he
said.

His Chinese and Indian schoolmates too agree that they would prefer to learn their subjects in either their
mother tongues or Bahasa Malaysia.

M. Saraswathy, 14, and R. Mogilah, 15, said both their grades had dropped when they had to learn in English.

“I used to get about 70 out of a 100 for my Maths exams. When the switch was made, I began getting about 40
or 50 only,” said Saraswathy.

Form Two students Low Suet Yi and Low Suet Yee, both 14, said they would prefer learning the subjects in
Chinese or Bahasa Malaysia because they didn’t understand English.

For Goh Kin Chye, headmistress of SJK (C) Yeong Hwa, Lenggong, introducing PPSMI was like jumping the
gun.

“The main thing is, the standard of English must first be improved in schools.

She added that although SJK (C) Yeong Hwa was a vernacular school, her students’ grades in the English
Language as a subject was not that bad.

“On average, they scored about 60%. It was not that fantastic but it was not that poor either.

“However, learning Maths and Science in English was not easy for them. Luckily, they were allowed to choose
to learn the subjects in Chinese,” she said.

She agreed with the government’s decision to reverse the PPSMI policy, saying more needed to be done to
improve the quality of the English Language in schools