KUCHING: Parents here are not really insistent on sending their children to ‘better’ schools located further away from their homes, when there is a school nearby.
Datuk Jonathan Chai, president of the Association of Boards of Management of Aided Primary Schools in Kuching, Samarahan and Serian said the situation is not serious.
There were merely some isolated cases in urban areas in particular where certain parents preferred to send their children to the so called ‘elite’ schools which have outstanding track records academically, he said.
He pointed out that the abolition of the Primary School Achievement Test (UPSR) should serve to reset the mind-set of the parents and general public that exam results should not be the only criteria that we should be looking for in search of quality education for our future generations.
“Of course, we cannot ignore the fact that all parents will, as much as possible, enrol their children to study in the best school,” he told New Sarawak Tribune.
From that perspective, he said, it is great news that the Education Ministry has planned to empower ‘less popular’ schools to balance their student population.
In that regard, he said it would be a good idea to move the principals and headmasters or even teachers between schools to create a vibrancy at all schools nationwide.
“That would also improve the ‘imbalance’ that schools in the urban areas tend to get the better and more experienced teachers than their counterparts in the rural and interior areas.
“In addition, the Education Ministry should also improve the facilities of the less popular schools to make them more competitive and appealing in attracting enrolments,” he added.
Sarawak Teachers’ Union president Kullin Djayang, agreed that the Education Ministry should look into equipping or improving the facilities for less popular schools in order to help them to achieve their potential.
Apart from that, he said, excellent school administration and educational management would be equally important to produce or create an effective and attractive school.
He also said that the main reasons why some schools have become more popular or favoured by some parents are mostly due to their performances, especially in academics and discipline.
“Some parents are willing to send their children to these schools, despite the distance from home. So, the Education Ministry must not neglect the opinion from the Parent-Teacher Association to ensure the issue can be addressed properly.
On Monday, Senior Education Minister Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin said some parents have even gone to the extent of falsifying their home addresses to ensure that their children can qualify for placements in schools deemed more prestigious.
This, he said, had created a situation where some schools were short of students while others had a packed student population. This creates an imbalance. Schools in high demand will continue to be filled while others are not.
Hence, the Education Ministry is in the midst of empowering schools which are less favoured by parents to help them achieve their potential.
Radzi said the movement of principals and headmasters between schools can create a vibrancy at all schools nationwide.
This, he said, would also enable the educators to share their experiences to improve the performance of the schools they were based in. The same, he added, would also be done for teachers.
Such a move is important to ensure that development planning does not merely focus on adding buildings to overcrowded schools, but instead move students to schools with lower student population.
