Parkaran Kutty
Why on earth are ministers always the targets of everything that goes wrong in departments under their watch? As an example, why should education minister Fadlina Sidek quit because of serious problems in schools so far away from her watch?
No, I am not going to join the bandwagon asking the minister to take responsibility for the bullying incidents, rape and the latest being a murder. Neither am I a fan of the minister. These kinds of incidents have been happening decades ago, most of which have been covered up or settled by the parents’ engagements with the school authorities, Former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin slammed the education system for the rise in disciplinary problems.
He talks about a systematic failure, which many would agree with generally. Here’s the thing - Muhyiddin himself was the education minister for six long years from 2009. Were there not any disciplinary issues? Here’s an example of the rise in gangsterism in schools in 2014 during his watch.
Muhyiddin was the education minister then. All former prime ministers and the current premier were education ministers at some point in time. Tun Abdul Razak, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Hussein Onn, Najib Razak and Anwar Ibrahim helmed the post for fairly long periods each time. So, we can safely say that what we have now is their legacy of not having put several safeguards and standards in school to protect the children. No one had asked for their resignations in the past.
Malaysians, especially opposing politicians, start playing the blame game every time something goes wrong. On Wednesday, the police announced that the crime rates have gone up in the country. So who do you blame here? The Inspector-General of Police or the home minister? Can they be involved ion micro-managing at every districts or states? So, how come no one is calling for their resignation? If ministers are asked to resign each time there is major problem, then Malaysia will have to change its Cabinet very often!
CROSS-HEAD: Where are the parents?
A large portion of the blame should be on the parents, many of whom have left the entire task of upbringing to the teachers and babysitters with poor monitoring of what their children could be doing in their absence from home or while at school. How could an education minister prevent these incidents of indiscipline in schools?
She is neither sitting in the principal’s chair nor is she the discipline teacher. Most importantly, she is not the father or mother of these notorious children. Yes, parents have been left off the hook for far too long over the nefarious actions of their children. How much can the teachers or headmasters do when students have been badly brought up or spoilt rotten by parents who have neglected them? For example, in the case of the Damansara school stabbing where a life was lost, the 14-year-old perpetrator actually purchased the knife online.
The question now arises of how he could have paid online. He must have excess to a bank card or credit card or other forms of online payment. So, the likelihood of the parents having given giving him access is great. I know of some people who let their children use their cards, but they do not monitor how they are used and what items are purchased.
Just ask the school authorities on how many parents bother attending Parents Teachers Association. According to teachers in my family, more teachers than parents are present. Most parents do not participate in activities to help the school , In this context, parents should be hauled up each time their children are in serious breach of discipline and the law.
CROSS-HEAD: Meritocracy in appointing school principles
Teachers have often told me in private that the appointment of school headmasters in Malaysian schools leaves much to be desired. Meritocracy is not the main consideration as the national unwritten quota system dictates on who runs the schools like that practiced in the civil service.
Here, let me admit that having the best headmaster may not necessarily be a panacea to all ills in the schools today. However, a semblance of it will sure go a long way to ensure we have good leaders managing the daunting task of producing good students. We need the right people heading the right departments in our education system to work together with the school administrators and parents to bring the best out of our educational institutions.
Ministers and deputy ministers are not headmasters dealing with the more than 5,000 schools and the more than 5 million students from Perlis to Sabah.
The habit of transferring problematic heads or teachers when problems crop up has to be stopped. Malaysian heads of department are known to be too sympathetic towards poor performers as they do not want to bear the responsibility of sacking a staff. who will lose their livelihood in the process.
So politicians and others should push for more parents to play their true role to know and understand what their children are going through in their lives and schools instead of calling for the resignation of ministers.
The problem in hand is the lack of parental guidance, impact of unbridled exposure to social media, peer pressure and easy access to alcoholic drinks and drugs. Everyone must join hands to find solutions instead of politcising the problem to win votes. Because whoever is the government or minister, problems in schools will continue to exist.
The goal should be to minimise these problems this and keep our schools safe.
Parkaran Kutty (parkarank@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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