NS taking a toll on our children

Time to suspend and review its implementation

The dust had hardly settled after the tragic death of National Service (NS) trainee,Afiq Zuhairi Ahmat Rozal, last month we have another equally tragic death of another trainee, Too Hui Min,bringing the total so far to 16.If two deaths in less than a month is not serious enough, I don’t know how many more have to lose their lives before the government considers enough is enough.

It must be stressed that NS trainees are young healthy school leavers who have no known illness prior to joining the NS. What is common in these deaths is that they show very minimal symptoms and signs and their illness progresses so fast as to be fatal in just a few days. The most likely cause of death in all these cases is overwhelming infection of some sort.

What looks imminent is that medical personnel attending to them in the initial stages failed to appreciate the seriousness of the illness as the symptoms were non-specific and minimal. The medical personal attending to them were medical assistants (MA) or nurses who are not trained in clinical diagnosis. I am sure if those unfortunate victims were attended to by experienced doctors or specialists, they would have suspected something sinister is setting in.

Why they were not referred to a doctor on their first visit to the clinic? We are well aware that even in the smallest hospital only doctors are allowed to treat patients, not MAs or nurses however senior they may be. Why was this not practiced in the NS camps? Doesn’t this amount to negligence on the part of the medical personnel treating the sick trainees?

These deaths have obviously cast serious doubts on the quality of the training and the safety mechanisms that are in place in the NS. Is the system professional and capable enough to carry military type of training? Has it placed undue stress on the health of the trainees? How efficient and effective are the medical examinations and resuscitation facilities? How well trained, equipped and motivated are the trainers in providing the training? Have we got to sacrifice a few of our children in each session of NS?

No amount of reassurance will be able to satisfy the parents if it does not address these issues immediately. The NS Department has a lot of soul searching to do and it must do it without any further delay. It should consider the feedback from parents and public seriously. Docility on their part will only create suspicion and doubts in the minds of the people as to the real motives of the NS program

It is very irresponsible of National Service Training Department director-general Datuk Abdul Hadi Awang Kecil to reiterate that the NS training programme will not be scrapped just because of one or two deaths. I think he must put himself in the place of the parents who have lost their children before making such insensitive statements.

Abdul Hadi Awang further suggests that the trainees undergo medical check-ups before joining the training programme. He must remember that these fatal illnesses are acute and there is no way even the most sophisticated medical examination will ever detect the illness in advance. It would only be a total waste of taxpayers’ money.

The unacceptably high rate of deaths among young NS trainees is an indication of the failure of the system itself. Its risks outweigh the benefits and as an immediate measure to prevent more unnecessary loss of lives the NS must be suspended and a full scale review instituted. As the Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak says we may not be able to scrap the programme just like that as many parties are involved but the safety of the trainees should be the paramount consideration and overrule all other factors in deciding to continue with the NS.

There is undeniably a dire need for racial integration among our youth which is so badly lacking in our schools. To be effective such integration programmes should start from the time the children start schooling. If we cannot achieve racial integration over 11years they are in school, I fail to see how that can be done in just 3 months after they leave school.

Dr.Chris Anthony

National Education Blueprint – Let’s produce smart teachers

 

I refer to the report “A quarter of projects resolved” (Star July 4).

In the first progress report on the National Education Blueprint 2006-2010, Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein proudly announced that More than 27% or 4,639 education-related infrastructure projects under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP) have either been completed or are being implemented and the other 12,096 projects were at the planning stage.

It is encouraging that the government has taken great pains to improve the education system by allocating a huge sum of RM23bil for the various development projects to upgrade our schools.The Minister’s plans to give priority to rural schools should also be commended.

The highlights of the plan as revealed are 1.Narrowing the education gap 2.accelerating education excellence 3.Making schools smart and ICT initiatives 4.Strengthning the teaching profession and 5.Developing the human capital.

While all these are ideals and need our support for their success, we should not overlook the single most important factor that is vital for producing students with the right values, knowledge and skills that would make them not just successful but useful citizens in the future. This is the only way to rid of all the ills that plague our nation today.

This factor is the teacher-student relationship.

The role of the teacher on the ground is the most important factor that contributes to the success of our education. Every effort should be made to cultivate a healthy teacher-student relationship as this is the basic unit for character building in our young school children.

We may spend billions of ringgit to build modern state of art schools. We may be able to equip them with all the sophisticated gadgets and facilities but if we do not have the proper teacher-student interaction, all our efforts will go to waste.

To cultivate such a favourable relationship between teachers and students we need teachers with a more professional attitude to their job, based on ethics and not sentiments and emotions. Apart from parents, the teacher is the next most important person who has the opportunity to develop and mold the character of our children, who are in their custody from a very young age.  Our children today are plagued with numerous problems – indiscipline, drug abuse, disrespect for elders and authority, truancy,Mat Rempit,violent behaviour,immoral and promiscuous activities. Most of these vicious behaviour have their origin in an uncaring and indifferent attitude of teachers towards their students, resulting in a poor teacher-student relationship. It is not uncommon these days for students to be absent from school for days at a stretch without being noticed by the teacher.

I still remember as children in the sixties and seventies, there were many teachers whom we idolized. We admired the way they carried out their duties impartially and the great passion they had in teaching and guiding us. Many among us opted to be teachers ourselves because of their exemplary behavior. It is a great pity that our children today hardly have teachers whom they can look up to as role models. 

I agree times have changed and life has become more materialistic. We have succeeded in developing the nation to great heights physically. Sadly instead of holding steadfast to cherished values and principles, we have lost them all in the name of development and nation building.

It is time to re-examine the basic functional unit of our education system – the attitude and performance of our teachers in their interaction with their pupils. Let us look at it rationally and recognize the flaws therein and take appropriate steps to remedy it.

What we are in dire need is not excellent and sophisticated infrastructure in the form of smart schools, vision schools or cluster schools but rather SMART teachers and headmasters to guide our children.    Dr.Chris Anthony

English is a necessity not an option

 

 

 

It is really distressing to read the report “Varsity students do badly in MUET”(Star, Jan 24).

 It is disturbing to know that almost one-third of our public university students scored Bands One and Two in the Malaysian University English Test (MUET) which indicates their low proficiency in English.The recommendation by the vice-chancellors’ committee to  make it compulsory for students to score at least a Band Three before they graduate from university is move in the right direction and should be adopted. In fact it should be made a criterion for admission to the university in the first place especially for science-based courses.  

Turning down the recommendations of the vice-chancellors’ committee recommendation would be really doing the students a disfavor particularly those from rural areas. Instead the higher qualifying standard should be maintained and the students guided and encouraged to work harder to achieve that.

Lowering the standard and shunning them from the higher requirements would only instill a defeatist attitude in our younger generation, which would be detrimental to the nation in a global world.While our universities should be commended for ornanising intensive English courses, it is regrettable that they are not taken seriously by the students themselves. This is due to misconceptions, especially in those from rural areas that are ingrained in them earlier from school days.

The positive attitude towards mastering English, or for that matter any language, should be inculcated from young. It should be stressed again and again that fears and prejudice against learning English are unfounded as it will in no way undermine our own national language.

Dr.Chris                                                                                               

 

 

 

Wholesome education essential

Schools must provide wholesome education

Some years ago the government changed the name of the education ministry from Kementerian Pelajaran to Kementerian Pendidikan .The reason we were told was  to change the image of the ministry from that of a purely academic institution to that of a wholesome education of an individual.

Sad to say what has happened since then is just the opposite to the ideals of that switch. Today our schools have become places just to collect A’s. All activities are tailored towards that aim. So much time is dedicated to examination oriented teaching. Many hours of extra classes are arranged and even physical education and art classes are taken over for academic subjects.

Extracurricular and sports activities are neglected and hardly any importance given to them. Pupils are made to adorn uniforms of boy scouts, girl guides, Red Crescent Society, St.John’s Ambulance, cadet and so on but no proper training and activities are organized for them. They are forced to stay back for these extra curricular activities but very frequently they are postponed at the last minute.

 Most of the students join these societies not out of passion or love but to collect the valuable points that would contribute to A’s in their final exams.

Sports are even more neglected. Some schools,do not even have a proper playing field let alone proper training. School teams for the various sports are selected in a mysterious manner. The annual sports meet which used to be such an important and glamorous occasion passes by quietly without much publicity or enthusiasm. A vast majority of students do not even bother to attend the sports day. They take it as a holiday to stay home and study or go for extra tuition classes.

Those excelling in sports are not given due recognition in schools and in society. On the contrary excellent exam scorers are so over glorified by teachers, parents and even the media. In the sixties and seventies, bookworm students are frowned upon and even ridiculed, but today situation has reversed, in fact for the worse.

We, parents, teachers and all members of society, must convince ourselves that schools are for the wholesome education of our young men and women and not a place just to collect A’s, as it appears to be at present. If we continue with this misguided system which emphasizes just on academic excellence, I’m afraid our future in the globalize world would be bleak.

The government now has promised to rectify the problem by revamping the education system and we must give our full support and cooperation.

Dr.Chris Anthony                                                                      

Higher education over-commercialised

 

Higher education too costly

I refer to your report “Education fair a huge success”(Star,Feb21).
Yes, the fair was a great service for our students and their parents for providing the opportunity to scout for the institutions of higher learning to enhance their career. Come beginning of each year parents and students are thrown into confusion of what course and which university to choose. Today there are so many such institutions of higher learning offering so many courses that the confusion becomes even greater.
The sad thing is nowadays our students are not provided career guidance when in schools. The system just encourages excellence in examination only, so much many of our school-leavers are uncertain of what course is suitable for them.
The rapid privatization of our tertiary education, I feel, is disastrous for the future on the nation. Most of the private institutions of higher learning (IPTS) are not fully equipped to conduct the courses that they advertise. This they try to overcome this inadequacy by establishing twinning programs with foreign universities. The phrase “get British degree right in Malaysia” is a familiar advertisement in our papers.
Why can’t our own public universities twin with these private institutions to provide their degrees at an affordable fee?
Today, parents have to come up with huge sums of money to provide decent education for their children. This may go into hundreds of thousands of ringgit and not many parents can afford that. Even pre-university courses have become expensive.
The system of encouraging private universities and colleges has made the once popular local STPM examination irrelevant. STPM is a time-tested and reliable examination which has been there for so long. It is now replaced with the A-level and matriculation examinations which are not only foreign and costly but lower in standards too.
The government should of check the haphazard growth of private universities and colleges. It has the responsibility to ensure that both the public and private institutions provide quality education at an affordable cost. It is the duty of a caring government to all its citizens.
Dr.C.Anthony