Compiled by TEH ATHIRA YUSOF, C.ARUNO and R. ARAVINTHAN
THE United Chinese School Teachers Association (Jiao Zong) is calling on the government to increase funding for schools to help address the teachers shortage by hiring temporary teachers, China Press reported.
Its chairman Cheah Lek Aee said they welcome the Education Ministry’s move to increase spots for the Bachelor of Education (PISMP) programme specifically for Chinese vernacular schools this year to 1,678, which was more than double compared to last year.
However, he pointed out that it would take five years to train new teachers and that schools were already short of more than 1,400 teachers right now.
The quickest solution, he said, was to give more funds to schools to hire temporary teachers for the time being.
Deputy Education Minister Wong Kah Woh announced last month that there will be 1,678 PISMP spots available this year specifically for Chinese national-type primary schools (SJKCs), which is a 114% increase from only 784 spots in 2024.
Furthermore, the programme is now open to Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM) holders in addition to graduates from Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) and Unified Examination Certificate (UEC), he said.
The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.
