Education Ministry urged to resolve heavy schoolbag issue

Meet the press: Radzi speaking during a press conference at the launch of Sekolahku Sejahtera at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre. — Bernama

PETALING JAYA: Year One and Form One students will start school on March 21 and parents and teachers are calling on the Education Ministry to lessen their children’s burden of heavy textbooks.

Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia (Page) chairman Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim said ebooks should be made accessible to students and school administrators should encourage the efficient use of these equipment.

“Some of the solutions in the past was to have double lessons, leaving textbooks which are rarely used in the classrooms, and provide practical, cheap and safe storage space.

“Others include bringing books to school according to the timetable of the day and only taking books required for work to be completed at home.

“Such good practice also turns students into effective organisers,” she said.

Melaka Action Group for Parents in Education chairman Mak Chee Kin said parents and teachers should communicate with each other throughout the week to keep each other in the loop about the school timetable.

“Students should also leave books that will not be used under their desks, or the school or parents can provide boxes for students to keep their books in.

“Schools, however, must ensure all classrooms are securely locked after school hours,” he said.

National Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP) secretary-general Wang Heng Suan said parents should check their children’s school bags before classes.

“There are no more than four subjects in a day at the primary school level at least. So why are their bags heavy?” he asked.

Wang said the Education Ministry conducted a study a few years ago and it revealed that more than 70% of students’ school bags contained items other than their textbooks, like big water bottles and food packs.

He said there have been suggestions for schools to provide storage space for students to keep their textbooks in, but not all schools have the space or finances for storage units.

And if students leave their textbooks in schools, they do not have reference material to do their homework at home.

“Ebooks are helpful, but not everyone and everywhere in Malaysia has good Internet access.

“The most efficient way at the moment is for parents to help their children pack their bags according to their timetable,” he added.

Wang was referring to a ministry study in July 2018 which found pupils bringing too many books to school, adding to the weight of their bags.

In some cases, the required textbooks and workbooks only made up 28% of the bags’ weight, and the rest of the weight was from things like exercise books, dictionary, comics, water bottles, food or sports attire.

A guideline was subsequently issued in Sept 12, 2018, outlining measures to reduce the weight of school bags.

This included rearranging the timetable so that there are between three and four subjects a day and setting up book lockers.

Teachers can also give clear instructions on what books pupils need to bring each day and reduce the number of exercise books for each subject.

Education Minister Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin has pledged to tackle the problem of heavy school bags with the new academic year starting next month instead of in January.

Citing reasons such as too many subjects and books, he said there were many issues to be considered as the ministry could not simply instruct schools to cut back on subjects.

“For example, the ministry has discussed with Jakim (Department of Islamic Development Malaysia) to allow students who take Agama lessons in the evening to wear their school uniform as a way to reduce the amount of items they carry in their bag,” he said after launching the Sekolahku Sejahtera concept here yesterday.

Earlier, Radzi said the Sekolahku Sejahtera (Prosper My School) encompasses elements of, among others, safety, fun in school, health, etiquette, manners, harmony, skills and exploration of knowledge.

He said these elements would be implemented during classroom and co-curricular activities.

The concept will not be a new subject, nor will it be a burden to teachers, he said, adding that they would not have to submit reports on it.On this year’s Form Three Assessment Examination (PT3) exams, Radzi said no decision had been made yet as the ministry was still studying the best approach while taking into consideration the students’ mastery level.