Selection of teachers

The recent announcement by the Ministry of Education (MOE) that trained teachers from the Teaching Training Institute (IPG) are not guaranteed posting after completion of their courses has caused some stir among fellow Malaysians, especially among the aspiring teachers and their parents. Some welcome the move, and of course many express dissatisfaction over the announcement. 

Since beginning, all teachers trained by the MOE were given posting to a school as soon as they complete their courses. But things are changing today. Even if you complete the course successfully, posting to a school in not assured. As the Second Education Minister, Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh has pointed out only the competent and excellent trainee teachers will be given posting. This means it is no more a privilege and assurance for the new teachers, but a matter of survival of the fittest. 

The Ministry has also thinking of ways of tightening the quality of teachers to be selected. As stressed by the Ministry, the SPM holders applying to IPGs should have at least 7As in the examination to qualify to enter the institutes. This is surely a most welcomed move as the aspiring teachers should have academic excellence to become a teacher.

As an educationist involved in training of teachers for more than 20 years, I support this move. But at the same time, other elements should also be given due consideration for selection of teachers. Among the top priority is passion for teaching. Passion here is understood as a strong feeling or desire towards a job. I have noticed that current batch of teacher trainees lack this ardent feeling or desire for teaching. 

This passion for teaching was a dominant feature among the yesteryear teachers. Till date, all us who were taught by this superb brand of teachers remember them vividly for their dedication and commitment to teaching. We always salute them for making us useful citizen of this young nation. 

Do we have this kind of teachers today? I do not deny there are some with these characteristics. What about the rest of the teachers? It is still questionable. 

In our pursuit for academic excellence for teachers, we may sometimes overlook elements like passion, dedication, hard-working and job loving persons. Only academic excellence may sometimes bring results otherwise. Sometimes a candidate may not have a string of As, but truly and really have the passion for teaching and children. This kind of candidate, in my opinion would be a better teacher, than the one with excellent results. 

Today a lot of students apply to become teachers as this career is the more rewarding one in terms of salary and promotional benefits. Recently, the government has rewarded handsomely by giving pay-rise and promotions to the serving teachers. I believe this is plus point for the aspiring teachers now.  This is drawing factor for the teaching career now. 

Another crucial point that needs to stressed is the selection of teachers. Selection of teachers should be done on the basis of merits and the above mentioned characteristics. If you look at the bulk of teaching force today comprises of one race only while the other races in the country are negligible. This alarming situation does not reflect our Prime Minister’s noble vision of 1Malaysia. This concept has to be reflected in our teaching force also.  

Teaching is a noble task. Not everyone can be teachers. They should be the ones who have the niche for teaching. It is not the bread and butter of any aspiring person to be a teacher. 

Let our teaching staff in the country be the ones with good credentials, passion, and dedication and be responsible to bring our standard of education to higher levels of excellence. This is our aspiration and expectation of every parents of our country.

Emotional Level of our teenagers

Recently, I was invited to a have session with teenagers, some 50 boys and girls at a sub-urban secondary school. I was actually requested to give a motivational talk. Before the talk, I issued a questionnaire to measure the emotional level of students in the school. Students were requested to fill in the questionnaire - a list of 15 questions to be answered. 

The talk was delivered and some salient points of facing life as students were shared with the students. Some motivational quotes, videos and illustrations were shared. I presume the students have supposed to have realized their role as students and probably become more prepared to face the challenges ahead.

The questionnaire was analyzed. Some shocking discovery was revealed. Yes, some of the answers given by the students were indeed disturbing. More than 60% of the students attended the session felt that their parents exercise too much control over them. Similarly, the students also feel the teachers control them very much in their school. 

A small number also said they listen to their friends more than their parents. A few even stated that they are disappointed in the teenage life. 

The findings may not represent the entire view of all the teenagers today. But, I believe the findings are an expression of the feelings and emotions of our teenagers. The findings have some relevance today. What has been discovered here is that parents and teachers are having difficulty in handling the children, in particular teenagers. I strongly believe parents lack parental skills and due that apply too much pressure on their teenage children. 

As we know the teenagers during this time undergo a turbulent stage. We need to understand them and nurture them to face the challenging life. They need to be guided and brought to the straight path. Perhaps, we should think of ways of accompanying them in their journey of the teenage life. 

But a few questions linger in our mind now. Do we have enough parenting and motivational programmes to guide our parents, especially to guide our wayward teenagers? What is the society at large doing about the teenage issues? What are the religious, political and social bodies doing to arrest the issues faced by our teenagers. What are the schools doing about the problematic teenagers? 

I deeply believe the parents need to be equipped with current knowledge and skills to handle their teenagers well. We are having too many motivational programmes for students, but very few for the needy and desperate parents.

The children are the future of our world. We cannot afford to let them  tread in wrong ways and thus waste their teenagehood. Therefore, let parents and teachers make effort in order that these teenagers may be rightly trained and educated, and that each one of them may attain perfection in the world of humanity.

Women: The Other Half of Men

Every year on 8^th March, the International Day of Women is observed and celebrated all over the world, including in Malaysia. This year’s celebration’s theme is “A Promise is a Promise: Time for Action to end Violence.

International Day of Women has been observed since 1900’s.  In commemorating the International Day of Women, let us take some moments to ponder on the significance of the Day. This is a Day dedicated to reminisce the services, sacrifices, and contributions of women to mankind.  

Outstanding women have emerged all over the world and contributed significantly to the advancement of humankind. In Malaysia too, we had and have extraordinary women who have played major role in the development of our young and budding nation.  We salute all the women for their share in the advancement of our nation.

As advocated in this year’s theme, let us all to do all the best possible to end violence against women. Besides, assure the rights of women in the political, economic and social and family life as this is crucial to the progress of human civilization.

Women and men have been and always been equal in the sight of God.  It is said the world of humanity has two wings -- one is women and the other men. Not until both wings are equally developed can the bird fly. Should one wing remain weak, flight is impossible. Not until the world of women becomes equal to the world of men in the acquisition of virtues and perfections, can success and prosperity be attained as they ought to be.

In the past, there was a notion that woman and man were not equal -- that is to say, woman was considered inferior to man. She was even considered especially inferior in intelligence, and the idea prevailed universally that women was not allowed to step into the arena of important affairs. But in this century of light, humanity has emerged out of this ignorance and error, and has accepted the emancipation of women.

The conditions in past centuries were due to woman's lack of opportunity. She was denied the right and privilege of education and left in her undeveloped state. Today, women have excelled in education. In Malaysia more women at the tertiary institutions compared to men. They form the majority of work force in the country, from the bottom to top positions. Can this be translated as emancipation of women in our nation?

I believe much more should be done to treat women as equal partners in life and society at large. In fact, in some respects woman is superior to man. She is more tender-hearted, more receptive; her intuition is more intense compared to man.

The happiness of mankind will be realized when women and men coordinate and advance equally, for each is the complement and helpmate of the other.

At this juncture, let us wish all our mothers, wives, daughters, daughters-in-law, friends, colleagues, and ALL women, a Happy International Women’s Day 2013. May they all be free from all kinds’ prejudices, violence and lead a life much better than yesterday.  

More non-malay in civil service

I was rather amused to read ‘More non-Malays  joining civil service’ in the dailies. The Chairman of Public Service Commission (PSC) Tan Sri Mahmood Adam said more non-Malays are applying to join the civil service. It is an irony to say that the non-Malays are joining the civil service in recent times only.

In fact, there has always been interest among many non-malays to join the government, especially with the economic downturn in recent times. Thousands of non-Malays have applied all these years to join the civil service, whether the local government or the federal government. Their applications always do not receive attention as many of them were not even called for interviews by the PSC.The non-Malays were always the prominent civil servants since the nation achieved independence. This a fact that cannot be refuted by any quarters. 

If there is an increase of interest among the non-Malays, fine, it is a positive sign. Then, the interest should be reflected in the number of non-Malay staff employed in the government machinery. The increase in the recruitment of non-Malay staff should be in proportion with the Malay counterparts.

At times, when we drop in at any government departments or agencies, we are surprised to see that the entire population of the staff are of one race only. This contradicts the noble 1Malaysia concept promoted by our Prime Minister.  Such an imbalance situation does not augurs well with the philosophy of 1Malaysia concept.

Non-Malays should not only recruited for the lower ranks in the government but also at managerial positions as we see the higher positions are dominated by one community only. We need a balanced civil service in the government machinery.

We are all the citizens of the country irrespective of our racial background. I strongly disagree with the terms like non-Malay and Malay as these are obstacles to achieve solidarity and unity among Malaysians. We are one, like flowers of one garden and leaves of one branch. This is the strength of the nation. So let us benefit from this strength and not split hairs because of the diversity of nation’s multiracial population.

Moving memorial service

On 15 December 2012, tragedy struck the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. 26 people died in the shooting spree orchestrated by a young man, Adam Lanza.   No motive for the shooting has been identified yet. 

A memorial service was initiated by the Inter-Faith of the Newtown community. It was really moving and touching to watch the memorial service. This emotional event for all - parents, relatives and friends of the perished people was telecasted live on CNN and other channels to remember the departed souls.

The religious bodies of the town - the Christians, Muslims, Jews and Bahá'is gathered in unity and concord to pray for the departed souls. Such is the forte among human beings. When tragedy strikes, people despite of different religious beliefs, come together as members of one family to express their support and oneness.  

The questions that lingers in our mind: What’s wrong with people today, like Adam Lanza, a 20 year old lad? Mentally ill? Hatred against society? Lost hope in life?  

Whatever it is, such tragic events should not recur in the future. Preventive measures should be taken as said tearfully by President Barrack Obama himself. Let us remember the lost souls in our prayers.

Nurturing children''s potential

I was relieved and happy with the recent statement by our  Deputy Prime Minster and Education Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin at a ceremony to celebrate the success of the Malaysian contingent's performance at the Kuala Lumpur World Robotic Olympiad (KL WRO) 2012 recently. He said children's potential should be nurtured.

I have always believed that every child has a potential hidden within him or her. A child is potentially the light of the world. Every effort should be taken to make the light shine out.  Children need to be regarded as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. Just look how the gems are excavated from the soil and polished to become a beautiful and lustrous ornament for man.

Likewise, we need to identify the potential of a child, nurture its potential so that the child can reveal its hidden talent and reach his or her apex.  It is the paramount duty of parents and teachers to identify and nurture the talents and potential of their children.  

As aptly said by our DPM, it would be a waste if the student’s interest is not cultivated and nurtured. A child can develop interest in any field, be it sports, computer, economics, journalism, language or even dancing. Whatever field is the choice of children; it should be encouraged and fostered so that the child achieves his or her choice.

Nowadays, we see a worrying trend among parents demanding their children to study a field of their choice, like medicine, law and the like. Some parents even indoctrinate the child from childhood to become a doctor, even though the child may not have the correct aptitude for medicine. In some families, becoming a doctor is a prestigious achievement. I do not deny the fact the career of a doctor is a truly rewarding one. But, is the child interested in medicine and has the passion to be a doctor? This is the crucial issue the parents need to ponder before encouraging the child to take up any career.

Let’s us bring the best of every child and make him or her happy for choosing the career. Do not deny them their right to make a choice. We should not force upon any career that is a dream of ours. After all what is happiness in life? Be happy with whatever you do and thus contribute our share for the betterment of our fellow being.