KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 548 MyStep officers will be introduced as teaching assistants at 274 secondary schools nationwide, the Dewan Rakyat was told.
Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek said the officers would be placed at schools with more than 1,500 students starting this year.
Seven special education schools have also been identified to participate in this initiative.
"Each school will receive two MyStep personnel as teacher assistants," she said during her winding-up speech in Parliament on Monday (Feb 24).
Fadhlina added that the ministry is focused on ensuring teachers can concentrate on meaningful learning and teaching activities.
Separately, she said teachers have the option to choose their preferred subject to teach, as per a ministry circular in 2022.
"This process aims to recognise teachers' professional fields based on their years of experience, allowing better education delivery," she said.
As a long-term strategy, Fadhlina said the ministry has five-year outlooks to ensure the need for teachers, according to options, is always met.
"This allows us to plan new teacher intakes for vacancies in government schools," she said.
She explained that this is also a yearly process, enabling the Education Services Commission to carry out their work.
"The Ministry will measure needs annually and consider any changes due to policy or education," she added.
On February 18, The Star reported that education groups warned of a growing teacher shortage, with nearly 12,000 teachers taking early retirement between 2022 and 2023.
In 2023, 6,394 teachers took early retirement, an increase from the previous year when 5,306 left the profession, Deputy Education Minister Wong Kah Woh told the Dewan Rakyat last year.
According to the Education Ministry in a parliamentary written reply on June 26 last year, most teachers left early because they were uninterested in their roles. Other factors included family, health, job duties, and personal reasons.
