Ranjetha: Good day, Madam Jasmina. My name is Ranjetha Kumaran.

This is my interviewee,
NAME, a primary school teacher. Good afternoon, teacher. Tell me about yourself.

Teacher name: Good afternoon, Ranjetha. Sure. I am teacher Bavithra. I am teaching at SJKT
Mahajothi

Ranjetha : Thank you, teacher.  Today, I am here to have a short interview session with you
regarding the discipline issues being carried out by upper primary students in school. I believe
that there are many discipline issues in certain schools, and I would like to get to know more
about this statement. Can you list out the current discipline issues among the students in upper
primary?

Teacher: Well, as you look into upper primary students, there are some discipline issues being
carried out by them, such as not completing their homework, making noises, arriving late to
school, absent to school regularly and many more.

Ranjetha: Facts to be noted, teacher. By the way, what are the factors contributing to these
issues?

Teacher: Okay, based on my experience, I believe that students who don’t complete their
homework are those who think homework is overwhelming and that is only a practise for tests
and exams. They also lack confidence to do their homework. Another factor will be the family
background, and they come from low socioeconomic family backgrounds. So, as we
understand, they don’t really have rules in the family. In comparison to middle-class families,
they usually have rules; they have manners that they should follow in the family. However, when
it comes to the lower socioeconomic family, there are no rules. They carry out the same
behavior in school. Next, students are not very serious about classroom rules. They don’t obey
their teachers nor adhere to the rules being applied in classroom. Therefore, they arrive late to
class and are even absent to school often. There are many causes of students’ absenteeism in
school. It includes students’ perception of the school environment, students’ commitment to
school, students’ family structure and student-family communication. Actually, they are aware
that there are certain rules to be followed in the classroom. But, when it comes to practising or
applying, they think as if there were no rules. Besides, students make noises in the classroom
because they sometimes find the lesson boring. They might think the lesson is way too tedious
and tiresome. Hence, this makes them bored and they start doing unnecessary acts such as
talking, making noises, and not paying attention to their teacher during the lesson period.
Students usually make noises in many ways such as tapping their pencils, cracking their
knuckles, singing in class and distract others. Uhm yes, basically, these are the most common
factors that contribute to those disciplined issues being carried out by upper primary students
which are students find homework overwhelming, family backgrounds and students find lesson
is too boring for them.

Ranjetha: I agreed with the words, teacher. These common factors actually affect students’
disciplines and academics too. Therefore, they would not be able to focus in their studies.
Besides, how do you cope these students the in classroom?
Teacher: Okay, coping students...... Alright, basically, I don’t really cane students who have
made mistakes. In fact, the first thing I will do is advising them by telling them that they are in
school and also that they have certain rules to follow. I will also make my students understand
the classroom is a place for learning and not socializing. I don’t prefer caning. This is because
caning is not the right thing to do and also because I don’t want to disrupt their psychology as
they will lose interest in the lesson later. I don’t spend much time advising them. I will just ignore
those students who never obey me. I’m ignoring these types of students because I probably feel
like I have other students too to take care of. These students usually sit in the back benches
and make noises that bother other students. In that case, first, I will advise them. If they refuse
to listen to me, they will be asked to sit in front. Besides, I wouldn’t raise my voice too as it only
works to encourage more noise in the classroom. In other way, I will also make my lesson
interesting to get students’ attention. Because, it is said that “the more engaged the students are
in learning, the less they will cause problems”. I will organize group works, provide them quiz
and also some written questions. These ways definitely helps students to stay focused in
classroom and they won’t make any noises. Lastly, I familiarize students with my non-verbal
cues avoid the students from making noises, which include hand signals, counting down
backward from 5 until silence is achieved and also clapping. This is to make sure that they are
paying attention and not disturbing other students during the lesson period. That’s all..

Ranjetha : Alright, teacher. What are the measures the school takes to overcome these issues?

Teacher: Okay, the class teacher will always keep a form where they record students’ name
and how students behave in class. Besides, there’s also a system called SSDM (Sistem
Sahsiah Diri Murid). This is where the class teacher keeps students’ record. This is like
evidence for the parents, school authorities, and police officers. However, we avoid using SSDM
because, uh, there are still primary school students and they are still young. In fact, we will give
them verbal warning and give them some speech regarding these issues. Then, their parents
will be called, and we will complain to them about their children. Furthermore, we seek the
primary factors that led to their children behaving in such a manner in class. We will ask them if
they are aware of their son or daughter, if they are really doing homework at home, and so on.
Normally, many parents will say that their children are good at home, but they only receive
complaints from school. Therefore, we are just alerting the parents to make sure they know how
their children are behaving in school. Besides, we also reward the students once they prove to
be responsible students. We will call them during assembly and reward them. This also
motivates them, and they will learn to maintain their discipline. Basically, we are doing this
because some students need attention as they lack it due to their family background. So, if we
handle them by knowing their psychology, we can slowly reduce the number of discipline issues
for upper primary students. So, these are what the school usually does. 

Ranjetha: I see, teacher. Normally the school undergoes the circumstances where students will
be carrying out discipline issues and also these are the essential measures the school takes to
overcome these discipline issues. Moving on to the last question, do you think these discipline
issues remain constant?
Teacher: Yes, I'm afraid to say yes. If you see this for a week, there will be no problem at all
because the students will obey their teacher and pay attention. However, after a month, they will
repeat the same mistakes by arriving late to class, not completing homework, and talking in
class while the lesson is ongoing. As a result, we cannot truly say that these issues will be
resolved once and for all because they will reoccur in the coming days or months. Therefore, I
would say it only depends on how serious their parents are about solving this together and how
good the students are at making changes. Yes, that’s all. 

Ranjetha: Yes, teacher. You’re absolutely right. Basically, it depends on how serious the
parents are involved in overcoming these issues and how good the students’ behavior changes.
Well, thank you, teacher. You have shared a good overview regarding the current discipline
issues for upper primary students in school. I hope this interview will be very informative for me.
Thank you for your precious time.

Teacher: You’re most welcome. Thank you for providing me a wonderful opportunity to talk.