SHAH ALAM, 11 Feb: The School-Based Assessment (SBA) system has resulted in the increase of teachers’ burden with the hassle of recording student assessment to a centralised computer system.
A lecturer at the National University of Malaysia (UKM), Professor Datuk Dr Mohamad Agus Yusof, said this is because the system is slow and often hangs.
He said that this has resulted in teachers having to wake up before dawn, when the internet traffic is smooth, to enter date into the ministry’s SBA system.
“The responsibility of teachers to develop a generation is huge. In school, teachers teach, are clerks, fill data and students’ information, are coaches and actors on stage. Despite that, teachers enjoy their job.
“However, with the implementation of the SBA system, the teachers’ enjoyment changes,” said Dr Agus on his Facebook entry.
He said that the Ministry is aware of the teachers’ complaints and promise to solve it in April 2014 by asking teachers to be patient.
On 22 February, a group of teachers called Suara Guru Masyarakat Malaysia or Teacher-Community Voices Malaysia (SGMM) plans to hold a protest in Putrajaya.
Dr Agus said that there are many problems faced with the SBA system, including the lack of a final year exam and no centralised examinations such as the UPSR and PMR.
“Without exams, how can we assess students’ achievements? How will parents find out about their child’s achievements?” he asked.
He said that this system is not suitable to be implemented as long as the teacher-pupil ratio and school facilities in urban-rural areas are not balanced.
He said that this system requires adequate school facilities.
“How can it be implemented well if just getting paper from the school office is difficult? From my survey, I found that the teachers by their own paper, printer and toner needed,” he said.
Dr Agus added that the system creates students who are lazy to read, work, think and the attitude of racing to be the best would be lost.
“This is because students no longer have the pressure to prepare for an exam. Parents will no longer be eager to send their children to tuition centres.
“When it makes one lazy to think, lazy to revise, what would the outstanding results of this system be?” he said.
Hence, he said, the UPSR and PMR centralised examination system should be returned.
“Students need to be evaluated, not only to know their level of achievement, but for them to have a passion for competing, and also to allow parents to assess their child’s progress,” said Dr Agus.
He said that if this system is to be continues, teachers should be given assistants to record date because the primary responsibility of a teacher is to teach.
“Teachers need to be given back their excitement to teach without being burdened by being busy filling in information on a computer,” he said.
