| Danial Norjidi |
IT IS important for schools to plan and implement strategies to identify students who need assistance and implement appropriate programmes to enhance their quality at an early stage rather than during the year they sit for an examination.
This was highlighted in a speech by Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Suyoi bin Haji Osman, Minister of Education during the ceremony for the presentation of School Incentive Awards for Primary School Assessment (PSR), GCE ‘O’ Level/IGCSEs and ‘A’ Level, Co-Curriculum Incentive Awards 2016, certificates of recognition to teacher coaches under the Literacy and Numeracy Coaching Programme (LNCP) and a colloquium on best school practices at Rimba II Secondary School yesterday.
In his speech, the minister congratulated the schools that were able to increase their academic performance, noting that such achievement does not arrive without earnest effort from all stakeholders in the respective schools.
He also said that while the Ministry of Education introduced a number of initiatives, the success of an initiative lies in the extent to which the school’s implementation of it is effective. “Of course, the main roles in ensuring the success of such initiatives are those of principals and school leaders.
“School leaders who have a vision for their school to succeed will strive towards achieving that by carrying out any initiative, either from the Minister of Education, Cluster Leaders or from sharing with other school leaders.”
He highlighted that, for this, the involvement of all parties, especially teachers is important. “It is not enough if our teachers spend time in class just to convey what is in their lesson plans without trying to make sure that every student can follow it,” he said, adding that school leaders who care for the quality of learning and teaching in a classroom will be able to see the results.
“A school leader is not only responsible for seeing that the administration/management of the school is run properly and that the facilities are sufficiently comfortable for learning purposes, but also responsible for seeing what is going on in the classroom – monitoring teacher’s teachings and monitoring children’s learning progress.
“Indeed, the demands on school leaders at this time are very challenging and we should take this responsibility seriously because the success of a school and its students is placed on the shoulders of school leaders.”
The minister went on to note that some schools have shown consistent achievements that are constantly increasing from year to year. He said that although the increase is sometimes not high, it always shows a positive trend.
“This, I believe, is due to the planning and implementation of a structured and accurate strategy for achieving excellence.
“It is very important for schools to plan and implement strategies to identify students who need assistance and then plan and implement appropriate and correct programmes to improve the quality of this group of students in the early stages of schooling rather than during the year they sit for examination,” he said. “From that, I hope that the improvement of school achievement is consistently produced and maintained from year to year.
“In addition to the expectation for school achievements that are consistent and improving from year to year, I also hope that efforts made at this time to increase the involvement of parents and communities in school activities can be sustained.”
He said he was very grateful to the school community, the public and private sector who have helped in various activities to improve the conduciveness of school environments such as grass cutting, cleaning up school areas and providing various donations and support.
“I honestly feel very proud that our own school leaders have succeeded in enabling the culture of collaborating in harmonising parents and the community in this matter,” he said.
The minister proceeded to share that the hope of the ministry is that the spirit of “ringan sama dijinjing berat sama dipikul” will be cultivated as the community and parents are among the most important contributors to the development of any educational institutions including in co-curricular activities.
He noted that as with other countries, good achievement in education is a key agenda in ensuring the progress of a nation.
This, he said, is typically measured through student academic achievements especially in general assessments such as GCE ‘O’ and ‘A’ Levels as well as international standards assessments such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS) and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS).
“In order to achieve the desired goal, we need to establish a strong ecosystem that can be built through cooperation and collaboration between departments and units within this ministry with other sectors whether within or outside of the Ministry of Education.”
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