Guru abai tanggungjawab calar imej profesion perguruan

04/01/2010

BEBERAPA persatuan guru mengakui wujud kes terpencil guru lebih mengutamakan ‘kerja luar’ berbanding tugas hakiki mereka di sekolah kerana mengejar pendapatan lumayan.

Pada masa sama mereka mencadangkan guru terbabit sedar tanggungjawab dan amanah diberikan, jika tidak pun terus melepaskan jawatan bagi menjaga nama baik profesion keguruan dan masa depan anak didik.

Setiausaha Agung Kesatuan Perkhidmatan Perguruan Kebangsaan, Loke Yim Pheng, berkata tindakan segelintir guru yang lebih rajin mencari pendapatan tambahan itu umpama ‘nila setitik rosak susu sebelanga‘.

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“Ia boleh mencalarkan imej golongan pendidik kerana kebanyakan guru komited menjalankan tanggungjawab masing-masing.

“Tidak dinafikan, di kalangan lebih 300,000 guru seluruh negara ada kes terpencil guru menjalankan kerja luar hingga hilang tumpuan terhadap tugas mengajar dan mereka ini perlu ada kesedaran untuk keluar daripada profesion perguruan.

“Hak guru mencari pendapatan tambahan tidak boleh disekat, malah ada membuktikan mereka mampu mengimbangi tuntutan kedua-dua tanggungjawab dengan baik,” katanya kepada Berita Harian.

Buat masa ini, Loke berkata, memadai jika pentadbir sekolah diberi kuasa memantau dan mengambil tindakan terhadap guru yang lebih mengutamakan kerja luar.

Mengenai cadangan pelaksanaan semula sijil kelayakan mengajar, katanya, ia memerlukan kajian jangka panjang terutama dari aspek pelaksanaan dan perundangan.

bagaimanapun, Gabungan Majlis Guru Besar Malaysia menyokong penuh cadangan pewujudan semula pensijilan itu sebagai mekanisme mengembalikan guru kepada tugas hakiki mereka iaitu mengajar.

Yang Dipertuanya, Ruslan Madon, berkata langkah itu membantu usaha pentadbir sekolah memantau guru yang sibuk dengan kerja luar hingga mengganggu tugas mengajar.

“Walaupun tiada halangan guru menjana pendapatan tambahan termasuk menerusi perniagaan jualan langsung dan MLM, kita tidak menggalakkan mereka berbuat demikian jika gagal memanfaatkan masa antara pengajaran dan kerja luar.

“Jika ingin dilaksanakan, kami cadang ia diperbaharui tiga tahun sekali supaya tidak memberi tekanan kepada pendidik dan membolehkan penilaian lebih adil serta menyeluruh dilaksanakan,” katanya.

http://www.bharian.com.my/Monday/Pendidikan/20100104043235/Article/index_html

Pengajar pendidikan seks perlu miliki asas agama

04/01/2010

Oleh Sharifah Salwa Syed Akil
inasalwa@bharian.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR: Majlis Latihan Khidmat Negara (MLKN) perlu memastikan beberapa keperluan dan syarat utama dipenuhi sebelum memperkenalkan pendidikan seks kepada pelatih ketika Program Latihan Khidmat Negara (PLKN) bagi mengelak kemudaratan kepada pelatih terbabit.

Antara syarat yang perlu diambil kira termasuk memastikan kurikulum berkenaan sesuai dan tersedia, tenaga pengajar berkelayakan dan berkepakaran dalam bidang perubatan, selain mempunyai asas agama untuk memastikan ia tidak disalah gunakan.

Presiden Majlis Permuafakatan Persatuan Ibu Bapa dan Guru Nasional (PIBGN), Prof Madya Datuk Dr Mohamed Ali Hassan berkata, jika semua kriteria itu dipenuhi dan tersedia, tiada sebarang halangan untuk kerajaan memperkenal dan melaksanakan pendidikan seks di PLKN.

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“Subjek itu mempunyai kebaikan jika diperkenalkan kerana mereka boleh mendapatkan maklumat tepat mengenainya dengan cara yang berhemah. Kita mempunyai dasar terbuka mengenainya kerana jika tidak diperkenalkan subjek ini, kita bimbang mereka menggunakan cara yang salah seperti melayari internet.

“Jika tiada alternatif tertentu yang kita ambil, ia dibimbangi akan meracuni pemikiran remaja. Justeru, saya anggap pengenalan subjek ini mempunyai manfaat tersendiri tetapi pada masa sama, mereka perlu memenuhi syarat tertentu sebelum dapat dilaksanakan,” katanya ketika dihubungi di sini, semalam.

Pengerusi MLKN, Datuk Dr Tiki Lafe dalam laporan akhbar semalam, berkata pihaknya akan mencadangkan subjek pendidikan seks yang dijangka diperkenalkan dalam PLKN tidak lama lagi diubah menjadi pendidikan gender.

Beliau berkata, langkah itu diambil berikutan ramai yang bimbang kemungkinan pelaksanaan pendidikan seks di kalangan pelatih PLKN yang akan dibincangkan pada mesyuarat akhir bulan ini atau Februari depan, akan disalah tafsirkan.

Mohamed Ali berkata, beliau turut bersetuju mengenai cadangan menukar nama subjek pendidikan seks kepada pendidikan gender kerana ia dianggap lebih bersopan, selain tidak mahu mewujudkan pandangan negatif masyarakat terhadap perkara itu.

“Ia wajar ditukar kerana apabila disebut mengenai seks, fikiran orang ramai biasanya tergambar pelbagai perkara negatif dan buruk mengenainya.

“Selain itu, pelaksanaan subjek berkenaan di PLKN bermakna hanya pelatih yang mengikuti program itu saja dapat mempelajari pendidikan seks dan ia bukannya menyeluruh kepada semua remaja. Jadi, sewajarnya program ini diperkenalkan di peringkat sekolah,” katanya.

http://www.bharian.com.my/Monday/Nasional/20100104010551/Article/index_html

Stressful and chaotic first day at schools for all and sundry

04/01/2010

KOTA BARU: Schools reopened in Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah with the usual scene of many anxious young faces and also quite a few that burst into tears.

At Sekolah Kebangsaan Kamil 3 near Pasir Puteh here, most of the classes were filled with pupils who cried as parents comforted them.

We know!: Standard One pupils eagerly putting their hands up to answer questions on their first day at Sekolah Kebangsaan Paya Bunga in Kuala Terengganu yesterday. — Bernama

One pupil just refused to enter the class and howled away while holding on tightly to the flagpole outside the classroom, while another had teachers chasing after him.

“It was a stressful situation.

“Once we arrived at the school, my son, Muhammad Hazriq Iskandar Muhd Faiz, started crying and running around and refused to enter the classroom despite his high spirits while getting dressed earlier,” said Liza Abdul Hadi, 28.

The mother said she just had to leave her son in the hands of the teachers, as she had to go to work and did not wish to disturb the learning process.

Too tired: A Standard One girl taking a nap on her first day at Sekolah Kebangsaan Sultan Ismail IV in Kota Baru yesterday.

“I think the sooner parents leave, the better it is for their children to get used to life in the classroom,” she said.

Meanwhile, Kelantan Education Department Director Mohd Ghazali Ab Rahman said parents were not allowed to wait in schools as it could affect the children.

“We understand that sometimes parents can’t stand to watch their children cry, but the fact is that their children are in school and there are teachers who will take care of them,” he told Bernama.

Mohd Ghazali said the first day of school went smoothly with 31,202 pupils entering Standard One as well as 570 primary and secondary schools reopening.

Chaotic: Teachers scrambling to help a Standard Three girl who fainted during an assembly at Sekolah Kebangsaan Padang Landak in Besut as she didn’t have any breakfast before going to school yesterday. — Bernama

In TERENGGANU, 21,115 Standard One pupils also began their primary education yesterday.

State Education Department Director Ariffin Embong, when asked about Sekolah Kebangsaan Paya Bunga which registered only 15 Standard One pupils this year, said the department was in the midst of restoring the image of the oldest school in Terengganu.

Last year, the school only had 13 Standard One pupils.

Ariffin said the location of the school right in the town centre could be a reason why parents were not sending their children there.

Schools also reopened in Kedah yesterday. The choatic scene was repeated throughout schools in the state which recorded an enrolment of 37,621 Standard One pupils.

Record number of students in Chinese schools

04/01/2010

Compiled by ZULKIFLI ABD RAHMAN, LEE YUK PENG and A. RAMAN

THE number of students studying in the 61 Chinese independent schools throughout the country has reached unprecedented numbers.

Sin Chew Daily reported that 2,635 applications had to be turned down, even with student enrolment increased by 1,077.

Last year, student enrolment totalled 60,481.

In 2008, the number was 58,212.

In Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, the Chinese independent schools resorted to only taking in “good students” due to their limited capacity.

Chung Hwa Independent School and Kuen Cheng Girls’ High School each turned down 400 students while Confucius Independent School had to reject 100 applications.

The daily reported that parents preferred to send their children to such schools although the fees were no longer cheap.

Their decision, the daily said, showed that parents had acknowledged the teaching system adopted by such schools.

Feedback from parents showed that they opted for Chinese independent schools due to the good discipline, dedicated teaching staff, the double system of sitting for SPM and the United Examination Cer­tificate (equivalent to SPM) and the recognition of United Examination Certificate by foreign universities.

The daily also reported that the Penang education department had adopted a new system which allowed Year 6 pupils to choose their own secondary school.

It also consented to vernacular secondary schools increasing their number of Form 1 and Remove classes.

These two measures had directly affected the student intake of Chinese independent schools in the state, it said.

Except for Jit Shin High School which maintained the size of its new students intake, three other Chinese independent schools in the state recorded a drop of 67 students.

Other News & Views is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a sub-heading, it denotes a separate news item.

Issue of overcrowded schools to end in two years?

04/01/2010

By TAN SHIOW CHIN

SUBANG: Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin hopes to resolve the issue of overcrowded schools within the next two years.

For a start, he announced that a total of 522 new classrooms in 11 primary schools and nine secondary schools across the country had been completed and operational beginning this month.

In addition, another 1,416 classrooms in 31 primary schools and 27 secondary schools are expected to be up and running by June this year.

Muhyiddin, who is also Education Minister, said that this would affect a total of 58,140 students across the country.

“There are actually not many (overcrowded) schools like this in the whole country, but we would like to take the appropriate steps (to solve this problem),” he said, adding that the learning environment in schools should always be conducive for students.

The minister was visiting SK Subang Bestari, an urban primary school with an enrolment of around 3,260 pupils, on the first day of the school year Monday.

Using the school as an example, Muhyiddin said that SK Subang Bestari, which has to run two sessions daily, was crowded because the residential areas around it had developed far beyond initial expectations since the school was built.

“To solve this problem in the short term, we will prepare cabins to be used as classrooms to decrease the teacher-student ratio first.

“And secondly, we will build a new school in a nearby site,” he said, adding that a new allocation would be given for the construction of the school to begin early this year.

“We want the quality of education in schools to always be high; but if the number of students exceeds the appropriate ratio — for example, one classroom with 40 to 50 students — that will affect the learning process, and we don’t want that to adversely affect the students in these (overcrowded) schools,” he said.

Muhyiddin added that the administration of such schools would also become more difficult as the headmaster and teachers would have to handle large numbers of students.

Education director-general Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd Dom added that schools which need to run double sessions because of student numbers were mostly in urban areas like Subang, Kajang and Klang where the population density was high.

On the matter of school fees, he said that around 80-90% of parents had already paid up their children’s fees.

“The fees of RM24.50 for primary pupils and RM33.50 for secondary students is not too much of a burden; parents should be supportive,” he said.

Alimuddin added that the problem might be because the school fees are added to other items the school itself imposes, like stationery, T-shirts and exercise books, among others.