FOR the past three months, Kamal, a Kelantan-based teacher, has been awed by how parents at his rural school have helped him keep their children involved in his online classes.

The parents, most of them farmers and fishermen, have helped him draw diagrams and write up notes from materials downloaded from the internet.

These materials were then shared in their science class WhatsApp group among all his pupils and it has helped them all understand the topics better, said Kamal, who wants to be known by his first name.

More importantly, it has helped all of Kamal’s classes complete or stay up to date with the syllabus and prevent them from lagging behind.

Kamal said other teachers in his school experienced how dedicated parents were despite being from a low-income, rural background.

“It is not true that kampung children didn’t want to learn during the movement-control order (MCO0 because I saw how their families really pitched in to help their children learn and not get left behind,” said Kamal.

The science teacher related this in response to worries that schools would not complete their syllabuses according to the academic calendar after classes were suspended from March 18 due to the MCO.

This worry is a key reason the Education Ministry decided to cut short mid- and final-term school holidays for the rest of the year and increase the amount of school days to make up for “lost time”.

These changes were revealed in an amended academic calendar released on Tuesday, a day before schools started their phased reopening beginning with classes for form five and upper six.

The mid- and year-end holidays have been reduced by between 13 and 14 days, instead of the original 41 and 42 days.

Schools in Johor, Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu, where weekends are on Friday and Saturday, will get 14-day holidays. Schools in the rest of the country will receive 13 days.

The new calendar has attracted brickbats from teachers and parents who said the sudden change in dates will disrupt their lives.

Holidays equal errands

The National Union of the Teaching Professions (NUTP) said it’s appealing to the Education Ministry to return to the old calendar.

NUTP president Amiruddin Awang also assured the ministry that instructors will be able to finish the syllabus for the school year in time through extra classes and supplementary online lessons.

The new schedule, which cuts the year-end holidays, gives an impression that educators did not play their roles during the MCO, he said.

“The reality was that teachers and parents worked twice as hard at times during the MCO to ensure that as many pupils took part in remote learning,” Amiruddin told The Malaysian Insight.

The MCO, which started on March 18 to fight the coronavirus pandemic, shut down all schools and kindergartens.

“We want the ministry to consider using the old calendar and to give teachers a chance to finish the syllabus according to that calendar, because they have already planned their lessons.

“We’ve received lots of complaints, not just from teachers, but from parents that the new academic calendar will disrupt their lives and plans.

“The new calendar has disappointed teachers who worked extra hard during the MCO at preparing and recording online lessons. They took the initiative to look for new materials to make the lessons accessible to their pupils.”

Mohamed Saufi Shafie, who heads a parent-teacher group in Rawang, Selangor, said families have already made plans for the school holidays, such as visiting elders and holding weddings.

Some parents also used the school break to drag their children around to complete errands that could not be done during weekends or school days.

“This perception that we are just going to sit at home and do nothing during the school break is wrong. These breaks are important to families to complete their errands.”

For instance, because the MCO prohibited gatherings and out-of-state visits, families postponed these plans till the final term break.

Saufi echoed the teachers’ claims that they worked extra hard during the MCO to ensure that pupils do not get left behind in their lessons.

“The teachers worked extra hard and forked out their own money to buy top-up credits for children who could not afford them. They would even schedule online classes at 10pm till midnight for children who missed the morning sessions.

“They tracked down those that were absent and helped them get back to online learning.

“So, teachers are right to feel sad and disheartened by the new calendar because the ministry seems to think they did not work at all during the MCO.” – June 25, 2020.