The controversy surrounding the standards of teachers teaching English has always been highlighted by Malaysians. Many are basically disappointed at what’s happening in schools. They want their children in schools to be taught by proficient teachers. If teachers are mediocre, then imagine what’s going to happen to the kids in school. The kids in school will not get a good headstart. But, what inspired me to write this article is the viral message that was circulated on social media recently. We have seen many similar complaints about the standard of English among English teachers lately but in my opinion, this is the worst of all. If this message has not been doctored or made up, the question is how can a teacher have such standards. It is atrocious that we have such teachers teaching in Malaysian schools and I don’t blame the Malaysians at large for being demented. Many parents wouldn’t want their children to be guided by such teachers. We have achieved many greats and say we are moving forward at a very fast pace but if this is the scenario in schools then one day will be far behind other South East Asian Countries. Our leaders may become the laughing stock in the international scene.
It s not the teacher to be blamed. In all sense, everything boils down to the selection committee. It means the selecting team has not been thorough in their selection strategy. In some developed countries, the candidates who are selected to become teachers are from the cream of students in the country but in Malaysia, the good students are not keen to become teachers. It is probably because teachers don’t earn as much as people in the medical, engineering or even the business field. Remuneration is a big factor among youths today. They do a little bit of research to find out which profession is a money-spinner. I remember someone saying this, ” before you choose a profession go and see what cars they drive first”. Yes, very rarely teachers can afford a Mercedez Benz or a BMW car. Generally, people say if you give peanuts, you will only get monkeys. If you want to attract tigers then you must have real meat and this can be expensive. So, the parents can’t complain as the top-notch students become doctors, engineers or accountants. Only the mediocre students are very keen to become teachers. If there are big-bucks thrown as the bait then there will be intense competition among our students.
Another important aspect is the status of teachers in today’s society. Status can be used to refer to a person’s social standing. In other words, it means the amount of respect you get from society. How much honour and prestige is attached to teachers. Can you imagine this fact! A teacher called a housing developer to inquire about the price of a house in an exclusive housing project. The sales clerk on the other side asked one question first, ” What’s your job? ” When he got the answer the sales clerk just replied ” you can’t afford it even without asking how much the teacher earns” and slammed the phone. This incident shows that a teacher doesn’t even get the trust of a salesperson, let alone other professionals. Basically, teachers also find it difficult to get exclusive membership in big clubs too because they don’t have the standing. Some big clubs only accept those who are in the big game, although they may be of a lower pay rank in their designation. For example, an officer in the police or immigration. They are powerful. Society today looks upon people driving big cars and living in big houses or exclusive residential areas. But, unfortunately, many teachers can’t afford such a lifestyle.
A mother was so disappointed that her son was not doing well in school. One day as she was going to the supermarket, she saw her teacher in the parking lot. He was driving a Proton. She parked her BMW beside the teacher’s car. When the teacher had parked his car and left, she told her son ” If you don’t study hard you will become a teacher”. This is the number of respect teachers get from successful people. Those days parents will tell their children that if they don’t do well academically they will become a gardener but today teachers have become the target for weak students. And, in today’s scenario, this statement may be true. In another incident, when my good friend’s son finished his secondary school education many people thought he should become a doctor, lawyer, dentist or businessman. These are all fantastic professions that one should pursue, but when he told he was going into education, responses from others surprised him. He was told that someone that ” intelligent’ shouldn’t waste his time becoming a teacher. Even his parents agreed. He dumped his childhood ambition and took up medicine. He even won a scholarship as he had excellent results.
Moving forward, there is also a lot of dissatisfaction among teachers due to the lack of promotion. There aren’t many opportunities for teachers to move up the promotion ladder. Many get stuck at a certain pay scale and sit there till they are retired. As compared to other professions it is nearly impossible to move anywhere higher than a certain level called DG54. And, Not even one per cent of teachers get rewarded with the “key Public Sector Positions” or JUSA. But, in other professions like doctors or lecturers, many of them are promoted to this post. This is where one gets rewarded for their hard work. There are no rewards for higher education as well. Many teachers have studied and graduated with a Master’s degree or PhD but, their standing is the same with a teacher with a first degree. This phenomenon discourages teachers to get more knowledge to better educate the children. This is the only country where such a strange phenomenon happens.
Sadly, many Malaysians are telling intelligent students “you’re too smart ” to become a teacher. A teacher is someone who is a role model to today’s youngsters, who teach them reading, writing, maths and science and also teaches them survival and living skills to do well in life. Then there is something wrong with how society looks at teachers. The negative connotation due to low income and inferior status can be changed. Society now must look at this angle if they find teachers of low proficiency because the smart students shy away from this job. It is not the fault of selectors or the teachers themselves as these are people they have. In Luxembourg, teachers are paid about RM320,000.00 per annum. Even in a poor country like Mexico, teachers are paid about 180,000.00 per annum but in Malaysia, a teacher at the highest is paid only about RM120-RM140,000.00 per annum. This is for University graduates with at least 30 years of service. Primary school teachers earn about half to one-third of the said amount. Now, We have to understand why we get teachers like ” if you running fasting you will win the race” quality. Blame it on the Ministry of Education. Something needs to be done to attract the cream of the country or one day the whole world will laugh at us.
Palaniappan Karuppan is a content writer under Headliner by Newswav, a programme where content creators get to tell their unique stories through articles and at the same time monetize their content within the Newswav app.
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