[lg policy] Malaysia: KSSR – the ideal and the reality

[Harold Schiffman]

KSSR – the ideal and the reality


By CHONG LIP TECK
Translated by Adeline Lee

Education director-general Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd Dom issued an order
on 14 October 2010 that, the Education Ministry would formally launch
the KSSR (Kurikulum Standard Sekolah Rendah) for all primary one
students in 2011.

This means that from 2011, primary one students’ school syllabuses and
class attendance will differ from their elder brothers and sisters.
Their class time of 1,380 minutes will also be 120 minutes less than
the 1,500 minutes class time of their elder siblings. The school bus
industry has earlier indicated that it would not send the primary one
students who will be dismissed from school earlier than other
students, home early. So schools have begun to look for strategies to
"fill" the extra 120 minutes. School must balance the arrangement of
these four periods of class, as it should not increase the student's
academic pressure. It is best if it could meet the needs of KSSR
interactive and fun teaching objectives.

Under the new program, the number of Malay periods in Chinese primary
schools has increased to 10. This was set with the aim of
consolidating the national language policy. Education Minister Tan Sri
Muhyiddin Yassin has guaranteed that only bilingual teachers who know
both the Chinese and Malay languages will be sent to teach Malay to
primary one students in Chinese primary schools. And that the order
will be issued before the semester begins. It is hoped that all
Chinese primary schools will have sufficient number of bilingual
teachers, so that the students can commence classes successfully.

Furthermore with the cancellation of the policy to teach Mathematics
and Science in the English language, the number of Mathematics periods
have reduced from the original 10 (six periods teaching in Chinese
language, four periods teaching in English) to six. All teaching will
be done in Chinese. English periods will be raised from the original
two to five; this is in line with the will of the Chinese community.

However, Malaysia still seriously lacks English teachers. The main
reason for the increase in English periods is to strengthen the grasp
of the English language, and to improve the standard of English in the
new generation. To achieve this goal, the standard of English teachers
must also be improved. It is time for the Education Ministry to plan
for the training of more teachers, to address the problem of shortage
of English teachers.

>>From my friends who are teaching staff, I realised that their feelings
on KSSR are that a lot of paperwork is involved, directly increasing
the burden on teachers. Teachers often find themselves short of time
to teach and to do paperwork at the same time; and the calls to the
Ministry to reduce the workload of teachers have never ceased. Under
the KSSR program, teachers need more time to interact with students,
yet the paperwork has increased rather than decreased. People find it
hard to understand the rationale indeed.

Teachers also face the problem of how to do internal assessment. Many
teachers feel lost on the evaluation criteria even after the briefing,
and are also not clear on how to complete the evaluation forms. It is
understood that there are specific instructions for each skill for the
languages, but there is none for Science. The learning benchmark for
KSSR is 100% and teachers must ensure that every student meet the
standard. This has also given teachers a lot of pressure.

When teachers asked questions about assessment at the briefing, they
were given the answer "go back to discuss with the school, the
decision on how to assess is by the school".

The KSSR is a new program that people look forward to, as it aspires
to give students a fun learning environment and get rid of the
practice of cramming to learn, through the injection of creativity and
innovative thinking in the curriculum. But the response from the
teachers seems to convey that there are gaps between the ideal and the
reality, and that the goal of educational transformation is not easily
reached.

-- http://www.mysinchew.com/node/49730?tid=14
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