ON April 18, the National Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP) raised alarm over soaring numbers of teachers opting for early retirement.
Its secretary general Wang
Heng Suan said that about 10,000 teachers apply for early retirement yearly,
which is shockingly equivalent to the number who are falling under mandatory
retirement.
“We have requested the
Education Ministry to give us the exact details. From our survey, most who are
seeking early retirement are either still young or in their
mid-50s.
“The trend is worrying because
we are losing experienced teachers,” Free Malaysia Today reported
him as saying.
Asked on the situation,
Arunachala Research & Consultancy Sdn Bhd principal consultant R Paneir
Selvam queried said the problem was multi-layered and needed MOE’s immediate
intervention.
“If I were to sum up the
problem, it arose due to MOE’s flip-flop in their policies, which is forcing
teachers away from teaching and turning them into administrative clerks,” he
told FocusM.
Elaborating further, Paneir
Selvam said that the problem of teachers opting for early retirement was
nothing now and it has been happening for years.
“People have this idea that
teachers are living a good life as their work hours are shorter and get to
enjoy holidays during school breaks, which is a myth.
“The reality is, teachers are
getting bogged down with a lot of unnecessary paper works that they work late
into the nights and even through weekends.
“On top of that, they are now
required to teach online with little support provided and asked to attend
meetings on weekends and during holidays,” he mentioned.
All the pressure, Paneir
Selvam added, was taking a toll on the teachers’ mental health and their family
relationship.
He explained that when people
opted to become teachers, it was usually because they are passionate about
teaching and wanted to engage students in terms of teaching and learning.
“But our education policies
have taken away the teaching part from teachers, which is the very reason they
chose the profession in the first place.
“In the process, they become
administrators. It’s taking a toll on their health and family ties…with some
even getting divorced due to excessive pressure,” Paneir Selvam
lamented.
On what caused the problem,
the academic said that most of Malaysia’s education policies are drafted by
those who have little teaching experience.
For starters, he explained, a
number of those drafting policies at the MOE are administrative and diplomatic
(PTD) officers, which was why their surveys usually lacked depth.
“These people will go to
schools and conduct short surveys and assess reports made by others, which
don’t give a clear picture because they are not really doing
groundwork.
“And when they do speak to
students and teachers to get insights, the latter are usually speak using
“prepared scripts’, which is arranged in a way to paint a rosy picture of
whatever is happening so as to please the officers,” Paneir Selvam
noted.
Compounding to the problem is
when policy makers get sent on study tours abroad, where they get excited on
programmes implemented in foreign countries and would hastily apply it in
Malaysia without considering local issues.
“For example, when the
Integrated Primary School Curriculum (KBSR) and Integrated Secondary School
Curriculum (KBSM) was adopted here, there was little study done on its
effectiveness. Were teachers, students and the Parent-Teachers Association
consulted?
“Policy makers must understand
that just because something works in other countries, it doesn’t mean it would
prove the same here. Malaysia has different environment, culture and
socio-economic challenges which require us to localise it.”
Return teachers to their
original task
Citing Singapore as an
example, Paneir Selvam said that the island state did not make any significant
changes to its education policy since 1965.
“They just improve on its
existing structure to keep up with the times without touching its
fundamentals.
“As a result, they are now
producing world class school leavers and have prestigious universities like
Singapore Management University and National University of Singapore
(NUS).
“In Malaysia, since Merdeka,
our education policies change every time a new politician becomes the education
minister.
“Not only do they meddle in
policies but they also rewire the very foundation of our education system, leaving
students, teachers and administrators confused,” he quipped.
Offering solutions, Paneir
Selvam urged the MOE to first conduct a transparent survey on how the current
education policies are affecting teachers; be it health and their family
ties.
Secondly, he said the
authorities should overhaul the education system to meet two objectives; one is
to ensure that policies are in tandem with future needs of students and the
other is to return teachers to their primary task, which is to teach and nurture
the younger generation.
“At present, there is a huge
gap between what is being taught and what is needed for our students’
future.
“Plus, the constant policy
changes are adding too much pressure on the teachers and students alike. People
should not blame the teachers for unable to cope with the pressure as it is
getting out of hand,” Paneir Selvam concluded. – April 26, 2022
Comments