Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!

 

















[ Index ]
 

 
Call on the Education Ministry to solve the problem of those children who still have no place at primary schools or those whose parents still complain that their children are not admitted to the desired schools.
Statement by Dr Tan Seng Giaw, DAP National Vice-Chairman and MP for Kepong on the schooling of over 500,000 children and the complaints of the parents. 4 January 2000

 
On 2 January 2001, 527,221 7-year-olds went to schools in Malaysia, making the total of 2,983,640 pupils in primary schools of all streams. Of the new pupils, perhaps 400,000 have been to kindergartens.

In the new atmosphere, those who have been to kindergartens may have less difficulty than those who have not. Hence, the Education Ministry talks about Transition Programme for three months, orientating the children to the schools to get rid of their anxiety. How many primary schools are implementing the programme?

As parents are concerned with children's education, they apply to what they regard as better schools. But, some schools are full and not all parents can have what they want. That is why we hope that the Education Ministry tries to solve the complaints of parents and the problem of children who still have no school to go.

The ministry has proposed that each school sets up a committee that presents a guideline for admission of children. This is to deal with the complaints of parents and to ensure that all children have a place in schools.

COMMITTEE FOR SELECTION

We do not know how many schools have set up this type of committee. What are the criteria for selecting children?

Some are on first come, first served basis. Some have a sister or a brother at the particular schools. Some live near the schools. Then, there are fake addresses.

We understand the psychology of parents. It is not wrong wanting their
children to have the best education. The annual national budget has a big allocation for education. The 2001 allocation of RM 14.4 billion is the
largest in the budget. We only hope that this will be used properly.


Whether a child succeeds in education or in life depends on many factors such as its intelligence and parents' attitude.

No matter how famous the school is, if each class has over 50 pupils, a
teacher cannot possibly look after all of them adequately. How can all of
them learn? Parents will have to arrange for tuition. If there are so many
tuition classes for primary school pupils, what is the use of formal schools?

On the other hand, a less renowned school may have fewer than 30 pupils in each class. Then, a teacher can take care of each pupil.
These pupils are luckier.

We must have education. We require more schools and better teachers.
However, we need smaller classes so that all pupils can be taught properly.

Dr Tan Seng Giaw

 

 
[ Home | Political | Medical | Personal ] Article #273
[ Recent | Archives | Forum | Feedback ] [ Index ]