Malaysia - Budget must reward teachers

THOSE in the teaching profession who are feeling the pinch from the high cost of living and expenses, are expecting some perks and monetary benefits in the upcoming budget that is to be tabled on Friday.

Shouldered with the responsibility of educating their children, teachers from both primary and secondary schools, just like those from other sectors, are already burdened with loans to pay off and household expenditure.

With just a few days to go, they are waiting anxiously for the Budget 2012 to be tabled with hopes that they will be rewarded well.

A check by StarEducate found that more opportunities for promotions and increments for teachers and lecturers in the public sector top the wish list, followed by more funding for schools to spur excellence.

The welfare of senior teachers remains a deep concern for those who have served for many years.

Sunita, who has been teaching for over a decade in the Klang Valley, says she hopes the Government would revise the pay scale as it takes a long time for teachers to climb up the ladder.

She laments that teachers have been “loaded’ with many responsibilities but the pay does not justify the additional workload.

“Promotions are slow and it is only normal for us to ask that we be rewarded for the work we do. While the Government had recently announced incentives for teachers, there were still many who had been left out.

“We have so much paperwork to do daily and most teachers are also responsible for different co-curricular activities, one of which is to prepare and train students for debates,” she says.

Another teacher Salmah, who has been teaching for over 20 years, hopes for class sizes to be reduced. She also wants teaching assistants to be hired soon to help out teachers in class.

“As a language teacher, it is very difficult to teach using the communicative approach in a large classroom as we cannot do much within a short period of time.”

“If teaching assistants are assigned to help out teachers with other chores, we can focus better on our primary function — teaching.

“Our job is to impart knowledge, but if we are burdened with so many other tasks, how are we expected to concentrate on teaching?” she asks.

Salmah adds that while the Government has supplied the schools with computers which come with Internet facilities, none of it will be fully utilised because the teachers do not have the time.

A headmaster in Selangor, says that the salaries of senior assistants must be looked into.

“Senior assistants in the DGA32 scale receive a monthly allowance of RM60. However, they have to take on the additional responsibility of managing the school compared to their subordinates (class teachers) who are also in the same grade.

“They should be given better increments or fewer teachers will be motivated to become senior assistants,” he says.

The budget, he says, should benefit the middle- and lower-income groups.

When teaching becomes a financially rewarding career, he says, teachers would be less likely to conduct tuition classes after school hours and could spend more time planning their lessons.

National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) secretary-general Lok Yim Pheng says many senior teachers have missed out on promotions.

“I urge the Government to create fast-track promotions and pathways for teachers based on competency and years of experience,” she says.

It is not the teachers alone who are faced with these issues, as lecturers have also felt sidelined from the last budget.

Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) Faculty of Cognitive Sciences and Human Development lecturer Edmund Ng says he hopes for a pay rise in the upcoming budget.

“There hasn’t been much of a pay rise for lecturers, even those in the military and the police receive better increments than us.”

However, Ng says he is happy with his current work-life balance as lecturers have flexible teaching hours.

Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Faculty of Business Management Assoc Prof Dr Arzmi Yaacob says that he would like to see the price of books, especially academic books, being reduced for students.

“Lecturers feel the pinch when their students fork out hundreds of ringgit just to buy text books.

“They are expensive, and when students do not have the means to pay for them, we feel their pain.”

He also says that course fees at tertiary institutions should be lowered so that more parents will be able to afford to send their children for higher studies.

“Tuition fees are exorbitant nowadays, and if they are lowered, the public will not have to rely on government scholarships.”

When it comes to distribution of funds to schools, Lok says that it is important that the Government looks into the average-performing schools as well as those that are not doing so well.

This is to ensure that all schools are given equal opportunities to develop and grow, she adds.

“Apart from boosting the productivity of high-performance schools, the Government should also look at schools with average performers and slow learners because they make up a large percentage of the school-going population.

“They cannot be sidelined as I believe they too have the potential to show off their skills and talents if they are properly nurtured and trained,” she says.

Sixth Former Joseph believes more funding should be channelled to conforming schools to improve school facilities and infrastructure.

“Such schools usually have to raise funds on their own to improve school facilities when in fact, such facilities should be provided by the Government,” he says.

By TAN EE LOO and ALYCIA LIM

educate@thestar.com.my

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