School heads to follow order on workbooks

PETALING JAYA: The National Union of Heads of Schools will abide by the order given by the Education Ministry to reduce the number of extra workbooks that pupils have to buy, said its president Wong Shee Fatt.

Wong said school heads will carry out the order by Deputy Education Minister Datuk Chong Sin Woon and then see the response from schools, parents and pupils.

On Wednesday, Chong said all primary schools must reduce the number of workbooks used during lessons to end the “heavy bag phenomenon” in Chinese schools, as well as to lighten parents’ financial burden.

He warned that action would be taken against schools that do not comply with a ministry circular issued in 2000, regarding the usage of workbooks in primary schools, which ordered a reduction in pupils’ exercise books.

He said teachers were not supposed to use external workbooks as the main teaching reference in the first place.

Parents had complained that they spent hundreds of ringgit on these workbooks every year, he said.