NUTP says ‘no’ to teaching politics in school, but Bersih all for it

 

NUTP’s Wang Heng Suan says teachers are already burdened by many duties, while Thomas Fann of Bersih feels political education is timely with 18-year-olds allowed to vote.

PETALING JAYA: The National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) is against the idea of having politics included in the school curriculum, but election watchdog Bersih 2.0 has welcomed the proposal made at the recent Umno general assembly.

NUTP secretary-general Wang Heng Suan said neither politics nor politicians should encroach into the school system and teachers should not be expected to teach a subject in which they had no training or experience.

Bersih chairman Thomas Fann said political education at the school level was “not only good but critical for the wellbeing of our country” now that Undi18 and automatic voter registration had made young voters the “dominant voting bloc”.

Fann said the syllabus must be prepared by academics and civil society organisations to ensure impartiality.

At the Umno general assembly last week, Kuala Terengganu Umno deputy chief Najmil Faiz Mohamed Aris said teaching politics as a school subject or establishing a school for politics would help in educating students on the effect of politics on their lives. He said this would help them make informed decisions when voting.

Wang told FMT that teachers, already burdened by many duties, should focus not on politics, but on educating their students and preparing them for examinations.

He said students were already learning about constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy in their history and moral education lessons.

Parent Action Group for Education chairman Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim has also opposed Najmil Faiz’s proposal.

She said her group would not support having politics taught in schools, much less the setting up of a political school that “may produce mini kleptocrats”.

“Schools cannot be a battleground for political manoeuvring,” she said. “Leave students and teachers alone.”

Teo Kok Seong, an emeritus professor at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, spoke of the necessity of helping 18-year-olds make informed decisions at the voting booth.

Acknowledging that the school curriculum was already packed, he said the best way to give political education in schools would be to incorporate information on politics into existing subjects.

“If this cannot be done through the syllabus, then it has to be done during co-curricular activities, where compulsory participation or attendance can still be imposed,” he said. - FMT