MIRI: Sarawak Teachers Union (STU) yesterday took exception to the statement made by Deputy Education Minister Datuk Razali Ismail that many teachers misused the fund given to them to improve their command of English.
"It is totally unfair to blame the teachers. In the first place when the programme was implemented, it was not spelt out by the ministry that the money was meant for them to improve their command of English," STU president William Ghani Bina said.
He was asked to comment on the statement made by Razali which was reported in the media essentially saying many Mathematics and Science teachers had misused the reimbursement (BISP) programme for important subjects, meant to improve their command of English.
Razali was quoted as saying the reimbursement was for teachers to buy books or attend English tuition. "However, they used it for other purposes and that is why they hardly improve their command of English.
"When the former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammed announced the programme on teaching of Mathematics and Science in English, there was not enough preparation. My argument is, if a teacher had been learning six years in primary school, five years in secondary school and another two years in teachers training institutions and still can't have a good command of English, what makes them think that two weeks of learning English would suddenly make them good in the language," he said.
He said the government should have considered whether there were sufficient English teachers to train those teachers to teach in English.
Ghani said instead of giving the allowance directly to the teachers for them to spend on improving their command of English, the ministry could have spent the money to come up with modules which could be sent to the schools to teach the teachers as part of in-house training.
"When you give the money directly to the teachers as allowance without spelling out what to do with the said allowance, it is rather unfair to blame the teachers. It is more practical and prudent to spend that amount of money (RM5 billion) on teaching modules that can be taught to the teachers in their respective schools. It is on this basis that our union opposed the giving out of the allowance to the teachers in the first place," he explained.
He reiterated his call to the politicians to allow the professionals in the education field to do their job. "Let the teachers do their job, that is, to teach the subjects they are trained to teach in schools. "The ministry must come up with a proper plan. For instance, in this case, teachers who are good in English do not get the allocation," he pointed out.
Kata Pengetua: Kesatuan boleh memberi komen tentang dasar KPM. Semasa Mesyuarat Permuafakatan KPM, kita diwakili oleh kesatuan dan persatuan. Kesatuan boleh memberi input termasuk mempersoalkan dasar KPM. Untuk itu, saya menyeru semua guru untuk menganggotai kesatuan guru yang ada (SU / SNTU) supaya kesatuan boleh menjadi saluran untuk guru menyuarakan masalah dan ketidak puasan hati kepada KPM. Akhirnya, guru dapat berkhidmat dengan effektif untuk kegemilangan masa depan pelajar dan seterusnya negara.--
"It is totally unfair to blame the teachers. In the first place when the programme was implemented, it was not spelt out by the ministry that the money was meant for them to improve their command of English," STU president William Ghani Bina said.
He was asked to comment on the statement made by Razali which was reported in the media essentially saying many Mathematics and Science teachers had misused the reimbursement (BISP) programme for important subjects, meant to improve their command of English.
Razali was quoted as saying the reimbursement was for teachers to buy books or attend English tuition. "However, they used it for other purposes and that is why they hardly improve their command of English.
"When the former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammed announced the programme on teaching of Mathematics and Science in English, there was not enough preparation. My argument is, if a teacher had been learning six years in primary school, five years in secondary school and another two years in teachers training institutions and still can't have a good command of English, what makes them think that two weeks of learning English would suddenly make them good in the language," he said.
He said the government should have considered whether there were sufficient English teachers to train those teachers to teach in English.
Ghani said instead of giving the allowance directly to the teachers for them to spend on improving their command of English, the ministry could have spent the money to come up with modules which could be sent to the schools to teach the teachers as part of in-house training.
"When you give the money directly to the teachers as allowance without spelling out what to do with the said allowance, it is rather unfair to blame the teachers. It is more practical and prudent to spend that amount of money (RM5 billion) on teaching modules that can be taught to the teachers in their respective schools. It is on this basis that our union opposed the giving out of the allowance to the teachers in the first place," he explained.
He reiterated his call to the politicians to allow the professionals in the education field to do their job. "Let the teachers do their job, that is, to teach the subjects they are trained to teach in schools. "The ministry must come up with a proper plan. For instance, in this case, teachers who are good in English do not get the allocation," he pointed out.
Kata Pengetua: Kesatuan boleh memberi komen tentang dasar KPM. Semasa Mesyuarat Permuafakatan KPM, kita diwakili oleh kesatuan dan persatuan. Kesatuan boleh memberi input termasuk mempersoalkan dasar KPM. Untuk itu, saya menyeru semua guru untuk menganggotai kesatuan guru yang ada (SU / SNTU) supaya kesatuan boleh menjadi saluran untuk guru menyuarakan masalah dan ketidak puasan hati kepada KPM. Akhirnya, guru dapat berkhidmat dengan effektif untuk kegemilangan masa depan pelajar dan seterusnya negara.--
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