Consider Combined Class policy, ministry urged

SIBU: United Association of Chinese Primary Aided School Boards of Management Sibu and Kapit Divisions has again urged the Ministry of Education to reconsider its plan to implement ‘Combined Class’ policy for under enrolled schools ( SKM) in the state.

Its chairman, Dato Tie Chee Ping, said the policy implementation is inappropriate under the current national development.

“It may cause the nation to go backward as it will affect the teaching and learning in schools that have fewer than 30 pupils.

“We held a meeting with parentteacher associations of SKM on Dec 30 last year, and resolved to object to the policy.

“The plan will affect the performance of the schools for

It may cause the nation to go backward as it will affect the teaching and learning in schools that have fewer than 30 pupils.

various reasons. One of the reasons is that the workload of teachers would be increased as they need to teach two classes in one lesson period,” he told a press conference here yesterday.

Tie said once the plan is implemented, Primary 2 would be combined with Primary 3, and Primary 4 with Primary 5. Primary 1 and Primary 6 classes will not be affected.

He said the time allocated for the combined classes would be shortened from 30 minutes to 15 minutes per period.

“Such a short teaching period will curtail teachers’ attention on weaker pupils.

“The problem of low enrollment in rural schools will aggravate when parents opt to send their children to schools that don’t conduct combined classes.”

He said this would widen the gap between urban and rural schools.

“Rural schools are already facing problems. The new plan will worsen the problems. In fact, the government should always take care of rural schools.

“Rural schools are there for a purpose - to enable the children to go to school and learn to read and write. Even if the school has only one student, the class still has to go on for the benefit of that one child.”

He also said the combined class would be a challenge for teachers in rural areas because there are more Bumiputra pupils than Chinese pupils there.

He said teachers would need more time to teach the Bumiputra pupils in Chinese subjects.

“That is why we’ve decided to call for a meeting to discuss this, and hope the ministry would reconsider the plan,” he said.

The association looks after 16 Chinese primary schools, including four in Kanowit and two in Mukah.

According to Tie, the plan is scheduled for implementation this year.

“However, schools in the state have yet to receive any letter from the ministry regarding the implementation,” he said.

Dato Tie Chee Ping, United Association of Chinese Primary Aided School Boards of Management Sibu and Kapit Divisions chairman