WELCOME BACK 2015

With year 1 students from SJKT Kalumpang, Hulu Selangor.

With Form 5 students from SMK Bukit Sentosa 2, Hulu Selangor.

2015 is here and after a delayed period schools all across the country are ready to get back to the serious business of educating Malaysian students all across the country. 

My heart goes out to those brave parents and schools that have to deal with the horrid after effects of the floods and yet still find the ways and means to ensure their children are prepared and ready to begin schools.

I’d like to extend my warmest welcome to all stakeholders in the nation’s education system. 

The students from various age groups and schooling streams, the PIBG of all schools, and of course the dedicated and pivotal teachers who are the molders of our children’s futures. 

I must also welcome the efficient officers from the state and district officers who will be the catalyst for the transformation of our education paradigm. 

All stakeholders have a part to play in ensuring the year is a milestone one for our countries education quality. The National Education Blueprint culminates with the end of the first wave this year and all parties have to work in a cohesive, united and integrated manner to achieve the aims and goals of the blueprint.

Dear students, no matter what your achievements or failures in your academic endeavor last year it’s a new clean slate this year and past achievements have to be built on for greater success and for those who didn’t do so well its another opportunity to start anew and turn the corner. Hard work and determination is the surefire way to success and each and every one of YOU have the potential within to achieve greatness if you apply yourself with grit and steadfastness.

Its my humble prayer to the Almighty to bless all students, teachers, parents, officers in Ministry of Education. and state/district offices to have a great 2015 full of progress, improvement and success. Welcome Back to School 2015

TOGETHER, LET US PUT A STOP TO BULLYING IN OUR SCHOOLS!

I was on my working visit to some schools in Kedah and decided to pay a personal visit to the home of school bully victim, Muhammad Ridzuan bin Mohammed Ismail from Sekolah Kebangsaan Iskandar, Alor Setar. The incident took place in December 2014. I am deeply saddened with this incident and incidents of bullying in our schools.  This is a dangerous culture and behaviour that we need to put a stop to!  It requires the combined efforts of all involved and not just the school or the Ministry of Education.

 

There are many facets to bullying including verbal, emotional, physical and even cyber bullying. However, it is human tendency to only take matters seriously when it is our children who are the victims or perpetrators of such acts. Instead of reacting to the issue, I wish to appeal to all parents to work together with the school and the Ministry of Education to prevent such incidents from happening.

 

More often than not, we find that victims of bullying do not report the matter to the school authorities.  The Ministry of Education is committed to change this attitude and provide channels for victims of bullying to feel safe and protected when reporting a bullying incident.  The school should be a place where the students feel safe, with an environment that supports social and intellectual growth.

 

Though the cases of reported bullying is only 0.05% of the total student population of more than 5 million, it is a still a worrying trend that we wish to eradicate completely.

 

The Ministry of Education is very concerned about the act of bullying in schools and will not compromise in taking stern action against those caught in this act.   All schools have been given clear guidelines on this matter and we have also taken proactive measures to address this issue in schools.

The ministry has taken the following measures to address and mitigate the existence of a bullying tendency among students ;

i.                    Appointment of a professional teacher counselor for every 500 students in a school

ii.                  Identifying and providing dedicated counseling for problematic students 

iii.              Providing an effective platform in schools  for students to provide feedback or complaint

iv.           Organising orientation programs for new students to get to know the school, teachers and students better

In addition to the above, since 2014, the ministry has started a program called Healthy Mind (Minda Sihat) to help students in secondary schools to manage stress, anxiety and the feeling of low morale due to environment, family or personal matters.

I wish to again appeal to the parents and students to play a critical role in this issue by coming forward to report any form of ragging or bullying that they may have information on inside the school.  The school is duty bound under our Standard Operating Procedure to report such matters to the state education department and the ministry, and at the same time take immediate action, wherever necessary.

Let us together put a stop to bullying in our schools!

PT3 IS THE WAY FORWARD FOR QUALITY EDUCATION

The inaugural Pentaksiran Tingkatan 3 (PT3) results that was released recently has drawn praise as well criticism from stakeholders as well the general public.  The encouraging part of this development is the interest and concern shown by many for Malaysia to have quality education that is comparable to the best in the region and globally.  Every feedback is priceless as all our intentions are the same ; to ensure our students in Malaysia are given the best education possible.

As in any new endeavour or positive change, time is of essence.  We need to be fair in our feedback as this new initiative is a learning curve that requires the support of all to achieve its objective.  The effectiveness of change is not always immediate, especially so when it concerns education.  It may take some time to fine-tune this new format of evaluation.  However, constructive feedback is most welcomed as the common objective is to aim for excellence in our education system.

We must also be careful not to be dragged into a conversation to compare the current PT3 examination with PMR.  Both the examinations differ in format and instrument, use of subjective questioning with open response methodology as compared to objective multiple choice responses and further enhancement in the marking process.  In essence, these are two different sets of examination and comparing them is a futile effort.

I personally do not agree with those who have blindly criticised our PT3 examination which is premised on Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTs).  A very basic comparison would be on those students who have performed well in our PT3 examination.  I am sure they went through the same education system as every other student, if not throughout the country, but at least at their respective schools.  If they are able to understand the new format and perform, what was the challenge for the other students?

Another case in point is Aisyah Azizul Raheem, the 15 year old eldest child of Azizul Raheem Awalludin and Shalwati Norshal who were arrested by Swedish authorities for abusing their children.  She performed well to score 5As though she only studied for eleven months in Malaysia, amid a family crisis. Given the situation she was in, her performance was exceptional!  The question many should ask is why many of our very own students found PT3 a challenge or difficult, as claimed by some of them and their parents in the media.

I wish to appeal to all concerned to come together and work with the ministry of education to ensure our intention of providing quality education is achieved in the shortest time possible.  This calls for constant engagement and constructive feedback from all stakeholders.  I am sure the ministry of education welcomes all constructive feedback and is committed to do what it takes for our education system to be among the best in the world.

Let us work together for a better future of our students.