Support for call to provide rest area for teachers

KUALA LUMPUR: Educators have welcomed Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik's call for schools to provide a teachers' rest area or 'kawasan rehat guru' (KRG) as a conducive place for them to relax and rejuvenate during breaks.

National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) president, Kamarozaman Abd Razak said KRG, equipped with facilities such as Internet, reading room, coffee corner and discussion room could help teachers to destress before continuing their task of teaching students.

"NUTP has 230,000 members across the country. At least with KRG, it may help teachers to relax their minds more, hence contributing to more productive teaching and learning in schools," he told Bernama.

Concurring with Kamarozaman, teacher Zulfazlan Jumrah, 32, from Tunku Kurshiah College, Negeri Sembilan said such facility would directly provide teachers with the opportunity to regain energy to continue the teaching and facilitating session (PdPC).

He said the facility could be an additional motivation for teachers as some teachers had to teach for long hours, sometimes 34 to 40 hours a week. Maszlee recently urged all schools to set up the facility for teachers to rest and relax from job stress in an effort to create a more conducive teaching and learning environment.

Mathematics teacher from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Bakun, Belaga in Sarawak, Ronald Tom Agan, 36, in welcoming the proposal, said KRG was important as teachers needed to be in school during school hours including teacher breaks and they could not rest outside the school area.

“KRG is even needed more now as most teachers would have to stay after school hours to carry out programmes including extracurricular activities.

“The teacher's room is not suitable as KRG due to its function as a work area too,” he said.

Counsellor of SMK Datuk Peter Mojuntin, Penampang in Sabah, Cory Benniso Shanty, 33, said it was also important that the KRG not be abused as a place to hang out and neglect tasks that must be completed by the teachers themselves.