Education Ministry mulls hiring teaching assistants to reduce workload

 

The Education Ministry is studying the need to hire teaching assistants to reduce the workload of teachers, the Dewan Negara was told today.

Deputy Minister Lim Hui Ying (above) said the ministry has also implemented several measures to ensure that the issue of teacher workload can be addressed immediately, from the 2023-2024 academic session.

She said these include:

• discontinuing any form of competition, celebration or ceremony at all levels, which does not have a major impact on student learning;

• reducing the frequency of the review of school management elements of the Malaysian Education Quality Standard involving teachers, to only once a year.

• more flexible lock-in time for student attendance records which is 12 noon for morning sessions and 5pm for afternoon sessions;

• the appointment of public examination invigilators is now open to those other than serving teachers, such as government retirees, students from the Institute of Teacher Education or institutions of higher learning.

• Limiting the organisation of the annual Teacher's Day to the national and school level only; and

• the autonomy of teachers in planning the implementation of teaching and learning as well as classroom assessment is strengthened by using the Standard Curriculum and Assessment Document as a reference,” she said.

She said this in her reply to a question from Senator Arman Azha Abu Hanifah about the ministry’s measures to resolve the problem of teacher workload leading to the early retirement of educators, during an oral question-and-answer session.

Lim also said that having teachers retire early will reduce the number of experienced teachers, but it cannot be prevented because it is the right of every teacher.

“We cannot force them to continue serving, but the ministry will try its best to encourage teachers to continue teaching until their mandatory retirement at the age of 60,” she said.

- Bernama