STU chief: We welcome changes to education system if done successfully

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Adam suggested that any new policies that are being implemented in the education system should be followed by a concrete and practical monitoring system.

KUCHING (Aug 11): Teachers in Sarawak welcome any changes or improvements to the country’s education system so long as they are carried out successfully, says Sarawak Teachers Union (STU) president Adam Prakash Abdullah.

He suggested that any new policies that are being implemented in the education system should be followed by a concrete and practical monitoring system.

“For instance, aids should be given to make sure that the system works and specialist coaches should be trained to make sure that the programme runs effectively,” he told The Borneo Post.

He described Education Minister Datuk Mohd Radzi Md Jidin’s remarks on Monday that teachers in Malaysia were not willing to change and accept new and advanced assessment methods in the classroom as an understatement.

“The Ministry of Education can implement policies but to implement the policies without monitoring them is another issue.

“Yes, in-class and school-based assessments have been there for a while now but how much have we done to make sure that the programme is effective at school level,” he remarked.

He reiterated that introducing policies was one thing, but making sure that they are successful was another.

“We don’t believe in introducing policies without monitoring and without upgrading of skills, because as you know, in-class or school-based assessments are not taught in detail to teachers in teacher training campuses.

“Teachers need to be trained and re-trained to be able to carry out effective assessments in the classroom,” he stressed.

He also said that at the same time, teachers do not want parents to complain.

“Previously, we have heard of parents who questioned the integrity; the validity of marks awarded by teachers to their children through in-class and school-based assessments.

“So in order to avoid all these complaints by parents and stakeholders, what the education system should do is to make sure that these kinds of assessments in the classroom or in the school are valid, certified and verified by bodies that endorse the marks awarded by the teachers,” he added.

He said it is important that parents are educated on how in-class and school-based assessments work.

“We trust our teachers in conducting their assessment and doing their best in making sure that their students get the best marks they deserve from their effort.

“But how much do parents know about this?” he asked.

On Radzi admitting that the Malaysian education system had been stagnant due to unwillingness to make changes, Adam said his statement was on the country as a whole and was probably only looking at in-class and school-based assessments.

“I believe that in Sarawak, our education system here is not at a stagnant level because the state’s Ministry of Education, Innovation and Talent Development and the schools in Sarawak are moving on.

“For instance, we are still pursuing the teaching of Mathematics and Science in English until today. It is a single English language programme, whereby, if I’m not mistaken, only Sarawak is implementing this at the moment,” he said.

He hoped that Radzi could look at the whole picture rather than to come out and say that the country’s education system was stagnant.

“To compare Malaysia’s education system to other countries is very subjective because we have different systems, policies and education philosophies.

“We have to take these into account,” he stressed.

Radzi at an event in Kuala Lumpur said other countries had surpassed Malaysia in terms of education due to the country’s stagnant education system.

He highlighted that during the push for the abolishment of the UPSR and PT3 national exams, some teachers and other stakeholders had opposed the move, saying that the schools were ill-prepared for in-class and school-based assessment.