What teachers want

Samuel Isaiah

“Malaysian teachers have been receiving support on how to deliver remote lessons through standard operating procedures and guidelines. State and district education departments have been conducting webinars to train teachers and expose us to multiple techniques for blended and digital learning. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has widened the digital gap; a gap that was already wide to begin with especially for rural and underprivileged communities. Having access to education has now become a privilege to a select few, so I hope more is done to equip families and communities with the necessary infrastructure.

This will also significantly improve the quality of education we teachers deliver to our students.”

– Global Teacher Prize 2020 Top 10 finalist Samuel Isaiah

S.Sri Murugan

“As a teacher, I wish for better ICT tools and free Internet connectivity to facilitate my students’ work during the closure of schools. Having the right tools and stable Internet is very important for an educator. There should be initiatives on empowering students with access to online learning too as many of them are ‘disconnected’ from the varied learning methods being employed now. I urge the Education Ministry to look into this issue as even urban areas like Subang has poor service and connectivity. Equip schools with proper and updated ICT facilities to ensure that students are exposed to online learning in case another pandemic comes round.”

– SMK Subang Utama, Subang Jaya, teacher S.Sri Murugan

Jasli Jamil

“To be fair to the ministry, they have been providing teachers in remote areas like me with sufficient guidance throughout the movement control order and conditional movement control order. My school has also received additional support in the form of district education officers visiting us to ensure we’re ready to reopen school to resume teaching and learning.

However, the one issue that plagues us, as with most other schools, is the lack of funding in our preparation to reopen next year. So instead of waiting around, we did a donation drive where teachers and parents chipped in money to buy necessary healthcare equipment and products like hand sanitisers for the school.”

– SK Segamat Kecil, Segamat, teacher Jasli Jamil