KUCHING: The Education Ministry should revise the double session system in schools as it has adverse effects on the education system and performance.
Sarawak Teachers Union (STU) secretary-general Thomas Huo said the union deemed the double session system a “failure of implementation of education policy” in that it was a sign of serious overcrowding in schools.
According to him, the ministry must focus on adding more classrooms to reduce the number of students per classroom.
Huo added that generally schools in urban areas were the ones showing signs of serious classroom shortages with over 40 students in every class.
On the other hand, STU president William Ghani Bina said priority must be given to ensure effective teaching in classes in an efficient surrounding to ensure the smooth transition to school-based exam after abolishment or the UPSR and PMR examinations.
“STU supports the move to go back to school-based exam. However, to ensure that these exams are more effective, the number of students per class should ideally be around 25 students per class,” he said during a press conference after the exco meeting yesterday.
Overcrowded classrooms had affected teachers’ ability to connect and communicate with students during
lessons.
“Our primary schools have 30 minutes per session. How could teachers give 55 students their fullest attention during that period?
“There’s no human touch, teachers might not even know the name of their students. No human touch is just like listening to the radio,” he said.
Ghani remarked that the country’s goal of becoming the centre of academic excellence might not be realised soon because of the underlying problems faced by its education system.
“STU suggests to the government to build multi-storey school building in urban areas to reduce the cost of purchasing more lands while rural schools can expand sideways,” he said.
Ghani said the biggest challenge in the teaching profession right now was double session, introduced in the 1970s when there was a sudden surge in number of students entering secondary schools after the Sarawak Common Entrance exams was replaced by the UPSR.
According to him, the state has 1,264 primary schools, 177 secondary schools and four teacher training colleges.