KUALA LUMPUR: The National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) has urged that a special committee be set up immediately to address burdens faced by teachers, in line with the Education Ministry’s intention to reduce stress faced by educators.
Its president, Aminuddin Awang (pic) said the issue regarding the burden of duties faced by teachers was not new, but a longstanding issue plaguing teachers, and added that the special committee was vital to provide practical recommendations to the government after making a nationwide comprehensive study.
"NUTP really hopes that the special committee can be set up to find a way to overcome the issue of the overburden of duties faced by teachers. NUTP would like to reiterate that the burden refers to teachers being forced to perform duties beyond the scope of their professional duties," he said when contacted by Bernama on Friday (July 11).
He was commenting on the Education Ministry’s measure outlining seven initiatives to reduce the burden on teachers, including abolishing non-high impact activities, appointing non-teachers as examination invigilators and reducing the frequency of school administration reviews under the Malaysian Education Quality Standards.
Aminuddin pointed out that the initiatives were suggestions made by the National Education Advisory Council session 2023/2025 that were implemented since February last year.
"The initiatives did help reduce the burden of teachers, but there are still many improvements that need to be made.
"Such efforts actually cannot be done simultaneously and requires several phases, such as quick wins, medium-range phases and long term phases, and those seven initiatives can be considered as falling under the quick wins phase," he said.
Meanwhile, National Parents Teachers Association Consultative Council president Assoc Prof Datuk Dr Mohamad Ali Hasan said it was vital that the initiatives be monitored continuously to ensure they achieved their goal, and suggested that administrative assistants be increased in schools to handle non-academic duties that were placed on teachers.
"Teachers are supposed to be able to focuse on teaching and learning, increasing their competencies through research and to inculcate a reading culture.
"If we have laboratory assistants and information technology assistants, then we need to ensure their ratio is adequate so that teachers can focus on teaching and learning, (and) studies on this matter need to be done," he said, adding that it was better for teachers to focus on helping their students master the reading, writing and arithmetic than burdening them with non-teaching duties. - Bernama
