PARENTS and teachers are looking forward to the full opening of physical school which they believe is the most conducive for learning. 

They said the current weekly rotation of physical and virtual classes was stressful for the pupils.

Schools reopened at half capacity on October 3 after almost a year of shutdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pupils are divided into two groups and take turns attending physical and virtual classes.

Former deputy education minister Teo Nie Ching said physical classes are better for learning because they allow the children to interact with one other as part of growth.

Teo said she understood that some parents are worried about their children getting infected.

“I support physical classes, but we can’t force parents to send their children back to school,” Teo told The Malaysian Insight.

Teo said students are unlikely to take the initiative for self-study.

“Parents need to help them. It is better to maintain full home learning and online classes.

“When the students are divided into two groups, the teachers will not be able to oversee all of the students and their learning will be hindered,” she said.

She also asked the ministry to quickly fill the vacancies for 21,000 teachers.

The MOE has said that it will be recruiting 18,702 teachers by December.

“Why can’t the MOE hire contract teachers and temporary teachers? Contract teachers do not need a two-year contract but only a shorter period of three months to solve the problem of insufficient teachers and improve the home-learning model.

“Many parents have reported a need to supervise and help their children during self-study.

“We require the ministry to hire additional teachers urgently to cope with the physical and online classes to prevent children from lagging behind.”

An MOE study has found home learning to be ony moderately effective after more than a year.

The study surveyed13,156 school administrators, 39,967 teachers, 52,413 students, and 59,624 parents and guardians.

It found that 51.2% of students were stressed while learning at home; 48.9% said they felt stressed due to limited interaction with their teachers while 55% felt stressed due to limited interaction with their friends.

It found 53.4% were stressed due to a lack of guidance during the learning sessions.

The study also revealed that only 57.5% of students completed their homework while studying from home.

Students ‘not interested’ in online learning

Malaysia Children Literature Association deputy chairman Kuek Ser Kuang Hong said teachers felt powerless and burned out after more than a year of online classes.

Some also required counselling, the elementary school teacher said.

Kuek said teachers have tried hard to motivate the students to learn, including by scolding and bribing them with sweets.

“The students are still not interested in online lessons. Oftentimes, the teacher talks to himself because students can choose not to turn on their video. Over time, the teachers feel they are working in vain,” he said.

These teachers feel that they have lost control of the classroom and are doubting their own abilities, Kuek said.

He added that the effectiveness of home learning varies from child to child.

“The learning gap is more obvious in the first, second and third grades. Primary school students at these levels need their parents’ assistance and guidance in their homework.

“If the parents are too busy to help them, the children will lose interest.”

Older students in Standard 4 to 6 are better at learning on their own, he said.

He said the current rotation system was taxing on the teachers.

“The teacher needs to design another syllabus for students who study at home. There will be a learning gap between students in physical classes and their classmates who are studying at home.”

Parent Action Group for Education  chairman Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim said that the organisation has always advocated for the reopening of schools.

She said infections in school should be minimal with the vaccination of teachers and students and tighter enforcement of health rules.

The weekly rotation is perhaps the best option for now to prevent infection, Noor Azimah said. – October 18, 2021.