Really? Students’ emotions and feelings matter?

Yesterday, the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) and the Education Minister Mahdzir Khalid suggested that schools respect the emotions and feelings of all pupils who were receiving their 2017 Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) examination results.

According to them, every student deserves to be given attention and celebrated despite their results. This, he claims, would help in preventing the students from feeling disappointed.

Although the advice is good and should be applauded, I wonder if both parties are sincere in their appeal for schools to show equal attention and care for all students despite their level of achievements.

My youngest son left school last year after completing his Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination. Throughout his 11 years of schooling, just like his elder sister who left school two years prior to him, examination-oriented achievement always played a key role in determining how a student is treated.

Since our schools have adopted the streaming system, it has been a norm to categorise students who perform better in examinations into ‘A’ classes while the non-performing students get shuffled into the last few classes.

This happens in primary as well as secondary schools.

I remember talking to my son’s futsal buddy a few years ago when I asked if both of them were classmates.

“No aunty. Arshad is in 3 Amanah. I am in 3 Fasih,” he said as his smile faded. “I am not as smart as Arshad la, aunty.”

I instantly felt really bad for the boy.

I later asked my son if sufficient attention and help is being given by his school and teachers to his friend as they are to my son, to which he shook his head.

“Good teachers are assigned to Class A and B, Ma. Classes D, E and F are often ignored.”

“Why so?” I asked, curious.

“My teachers like to refer to the students of those classes as ‘tak ada harapan’. You know, Ma, because no one is helping them, some students in Class Fasih can’t even read or write well,” my son replied.

Just pushing for A's

It is very heart breaking to label students as non-performing by fitting them into the last classes, when nothing substantial is being done to assist them in order to improve themselves.

But this is not a new phenomenon. Everyone who has been to school or have children who are schooling in Malaysian public schools would know how common this is.

Unfortunately, nothing is done about it.

The reality is, examination results have become a benchmark to measure a student’s achievement these days. Students are moulded to earn as much A’s as they can. Good and experienced teachers are assigned to top classes in order to achieve this.

While emphasis is given to those who can deliver as many A’s as possible – which in return could improve the school’s statistics – those who struggle to even get C’s are ignored.

When students who are struggling to catch up in their studies are segregated, labelled and denied help, pray tell me how do we prevent them from feeling disappointed and frustrated?

We can’t.

These students spend years being groomed as an outcast, a disappointment. While their schoolmates happily boast about their results throughout the year, they feel small and continue to shrink until they lose every remaining drop of pride and self-belief.

If the education minister is really concerned about the emotions and feelings of the students, the segregating system we practice in schools must change. All students must be given equal opportunities to learn and improve themselves, whether it is from an ‘A’ to an ‘A+’ or an ‘F’ to a ‘D’.

Schools should not be made to compete against one another to improve their rankings based on how their students perform.

Instead of taking into account the performances of best achievers of the school, the improvement shown by the underperforming students should be focused on.

I’d say it is time the education minister walk his talk.

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FA ABDUL is a passionate storyteller, a growing media trainer, an aspiring playwright, a regular director, a struggling producer, a self-acclaimed photographer, an expert Facebooker, a lazy blogger, a part-time queen and a full-time vainpot.- Mkini