Teachers are not to be blamed, so who are?

My fellow columnist Fa Abdul has put together such a beautiful piece on the plight of teachers these days.

By giving the illustration of one Daniel (name changed, I presume), Fa Abdul has hit the bull’s eye, and with this, I hope it is time for officers from both the Education Ministry and the State Education Departments under it to wake up.

In particular, it is time for all three – present Minister of Education Mahdzir Khalid (photo), and his two deputies, P Kalamanathan and Chong Sin Woon – to wake up. The Education Ministry has been helmed by politicians who are merely fond of implementing the “touch-and-go” policy.

The real issues are not being dealt with. A change or relaxation in a certain policy is done based on who has the louder voice. Or, as Daniel rightly pointed out: After some time, Malaysians are “falling back on their old ways”.

We have yet to see whether the heavy bag issue and additional workbooks will be enforced throughout the country. If yes, for how long? Or, is it just for the show?

Fa is far from wrong when she said that the education blueprint is in place, but its implementation is what has gone wrong. We are like the proverbial Malay saying, “Crabs trying to crawl out of the basket.”

Who to blame?

Let me tell you who is to blame.

For 17 years, the circular on workbooks issued in 2000 and later another one in 2014 was put in place, yet school administrators are giving the ministry the snub. Why, for example, after the Selangor Education Department discovered that some schools in the state are not following the circular, heads are not rolling?

Maybe, it is to give face. Or, the punishment is just a slap on the wrist, because disciplinary measures are at the pleasure of the state education directors.

This is serious, especially when the mother of a Standard Five girl revealed that she had to purchase 29 workbooks! My son, who is in Standard 3 in the same school, has 21 workbooks, including one on each subject that is given free by the government.

In my previous articles, I have mentioned that scores of letters had been sent to the ministry and the state Education Department; therefore, I find it appalling when I read Chong’s comment in The Star: “But it’s hard to get proof without cooperation from stakeholders.”

This, despite him getting the wind on schools asking parents to buy a lot of workbooks since 2015. Yet, why was no formal investigation been carried out? When no heads roll, people become bolder.

If I may say, all district education officers have been told to keep their ears to the ground. But did they? No? Why not?

We are not even accusing any headmaster of being on the take, but when evidence like 29 workbooks for Standard Five and 21 workbooks for Standard Three emerged, they are all hard evidence that the ministry’s directive had been breached.

Organisations such as the pro-Chinese education group Jiazhong and Parent Action Group for Education (Page) would be more than happy to provide the leads, which I know they have been doing, but where are the actions from the minister and his two deputies?

It’s not only Mahdzir, Kalamanathan or Chong (photo) alone, but previous batches of politicians who helmed this all-important ministry. This is what has led to the decline in our education system, so much so that people are sending their children to Chinese schools, only to find that the system too is rotting at the core, when the bad hats continue to get away with the punishment.

Teachers are the victims

The real victims at the end of the day are the good teachers and the children. What I do know, I share.

Through some parents, I learnt that the good teachers are giving up on doing a good job. Like what Fa said, someone like Daniel wanted to do a good job in teaching but other teachers start to gang up on him. These are usually the apple polishers.

In some cases, to please these jealous groups, the principal may call Daniel into his office, “Daniel, you are doing a good job. However, we have to cut down on all the activities. They are good, but….” All sorts of excuses would be given, but the real reason is hidden.

Similarly, when a genuine complaint by parents is lodged against a “rogue” teacher, this too is often swept under the carpet. Meetings are held, reports are submitted, but often, the story is somewhat twisted without the knowledge of the complainant.

At this juncture, I am assisting a family whose child was a victim in what clearly was a bully case, but instead of counselling the bully, the victim was further victimised by the school administrators.

Till now, the Petaling Utama district education office is unable to solve the issue and the mother of the victim is now being issued numerous letters asking why her two children (with asthma and apnoea) are absent or late for school.

When you do not have a good principal in place, this is where the bad hats will have their field day, but the good teachers get demoralised.

In a previous write-up, I have given the example of what can happen when good teachers are under pressure to collect Parent-Teacher Association (PIBG) fees, and they end up becoming mere money collection machines during class hours; one or two have resorted to using the cane to collect the money in order to meet the set deadlines. When the issue blew up, the teachers got penalised, not the school administrators.

So, I can fully understand the plight of teachers like Daniel who want to do a good job, but ending up getting demoralised.

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STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.- Mkini