Guiding hand for students

Comm Narenasagaran (second left) explaining about crime prevention to SMK Sama Gagah students. With them is Ismail.

THE Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) and the Education Ministry have launched a school liaison officer guidebook to help schools and officers execute their roles and responsibilities.

A total of 834 primary and secondary schools in Penang now have police liaison officers.

Penang police chief Comm Datuk T. Narenasagaran said these officers comprising lance corporals to assistant superintendents of police were acting as intermediaries between the police and school.

“These officers visit the schools under their responsibility at least twice a month and at the same time, monitor any student activity that may lead to crime.

“They will also be sharing relevant information to create a crime-free environment.

“Teachers or principals can also play their part by informing these officers about criminal activities by their students.

“By doing this, we can at least prevent criminal activities at an early stage, ” he said at a press conference after the launch of the ‘Jom Ke Sekolah’ programme at SMK Sama Gagah in Permatang Pauh.

Earlier, Comm Narenasagaran launched the school liaison officer guidebook.

The book was prepared by the Education Ministry with support from PDRM and National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP).

Comm Narenasagaran was accompanied by state Education Department deputy director (education sector) Ismail Mohd Said and SMK Sama Gagah principal Shamsuddin Hussien.

Meanwhile, in an effort to increase students’ attendance at SMK Sama Gagah, a creative attendance board with a flight theme was created by the teachers.

SMK Sama Gagah senior assistant (student affairs) Zalilah Ghazali said the MH8390 board idea came when she was transferred to the school last September.

“Our principal informed us that a school in north Seberang Prai used this method and I went to learn from them, ” she said.

Zalilah said she decided to implement the system for all classes in the school.

She said since the board was implemented at the school last month, attendance had increased from 83% to 90%.

“We are targeting an average attendance of 90% in three years, ” she said.

Zalilah said ‘MH’ means ‘mesti hadir’ (must attend) and ‘8390’ means ‘83% to 90%’.

The board has name tags of students from each class.

Students must take their name tags from the ‘boarding gate’ section and attach them on the MH8390 plane depicted on the board.

Class teachers can then monitor their students’ attendance from the board every morning and key in the attendance online before 9am daily.

The boards representing every class from Form One to Form Five are placed along the corridor on the way to the canteen and assembly area.

There are 19 classes from Form One to Form Five in the school.