(Borneo Post)
by Peter Boon March 4, 2010, Thursday
SIBU: The notion that Malaysian teachers are not ready to impart sex education in school does not augur well with the Sarawak Teachers’ Union (STU).Its president William Ghani, in stating this yesterday, said STU respected the National Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP) secretary-general Lok Yim Pheng’s view on the matter.
However, he said, it did not reflect the stand of the 340,000 teachers from 10,000 schools in the country.
“This is because the issue was never discussed in our meetings comprising the country’s 24 teachers’ unions, Secondary School Principals Association Malaysia and Primary School Headmasters Council,” Ghani told The Borneo Post when contacted yesterday.
He was commenting on Lok’s opinion that Malaysian teachers lacked professional training in teaching the subject.
Lok was also quoted by a local news agency as saying that teachers were not confident to teach such subject.
In response, quoting his neighbour (a teacher), who called him yesterday, Ghani said: “Who say we are not ready.”
In fact, in school, subjects such as Civic (Moral), Biology and Science taught students the importance of self-respect, he stressed.
“For example, there is a section in the Civic lesson that dwells on family education. Here, students are properly guided about the dos and don’ts in their lives.
“We explain to them why certain things are best left until they are married,” he said.
Ghani strongly felt that such knowledge could be further reinforced by parents, given the limited time children had in school.
A strong family institution was imperative to help children shun bad influences and guide them towards achieving their goals in life, he emphasised.
Parents, he went on to say, needed to play a more engaging role at home.
He said they needed to tell their children why it was not proper to start a relationship while still schooling and the consequences of doing so.
Among others, he reckoned that by providing moral and religious education at home, parents would condition their children’s mind to differentiate between right and wrong.
“Our children will check with their inner selves before attempting anything that can throw their lives into tatters,” Ghani added.
In addition, he pointed out that parents should make time for a regular heart to heart talk with their children.
“This is because at times, children attempted wild things just to attract their parents’ attention,” he said.
He also felt that it was irrational to introduce a fresh subject in school each time a problem cropped up as students would be the one to bear blunt of such action.
Students, he added, were already hard pressed to cope with their schoolwork.
“Therefore, any additional subject will make them dislike going to school,” he said.
He said this might prompt students to skip school as they might find it boring.
“Perhaps, we have to ask ourselves in attempting to solve a problem, are we creating a bigger problem which we may have overlooked?” he asked.
by Peter Boon March 4, 2010, Thursday
SIBU: The notion that Malaysian teachers are not ready to impart sex education in school does not augur well with the Sarawak Teachers’ Union (STU).Its president William Ghani, in stating this yesterday, said STU respected the National Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP) secretary-general Lok Yim Pheng’s view on the matter.
However, he said, it did not reflect the stand of the 340,000 teachers from 10,000 schools in the country.
“This is because the issue was never discussed in our meetings comprising the country’s 24 teachers’ unions, Secondary School Principals Association Malaysia and Primary School Headmasters Council,” Ghani told The Borneo Post when contacted yesterday.
He was commenting on Lok’s opinion that Malaysian teachers lacked professional training in teaching the subject.
Lok was also quoted by a local news agency as saying that teachers were not confident to teach such subject.
In response, quoting his neighbour (a teacher), who called him yesterday, Ghani said: “Who say we are not ready.”
In fact, in school, subjects such as Civic (Moral), Biology and Science taught students the importance of self-respect, he stressed.
“For example, there is a section in the Civic lesson that dwells on family education. Here, students are properly guided about the dos and don’ts in their lives.
“We explain to them why certain things are best left until they are married,” he said.
Ghani strongly felt that such knowledge could be further reinforced by parents, given the limited time children had in school.
A strong family institution was imperative to help children shun bad influences and guide them towards achieving their goals in life, he emphasised.
Parents, he went on to say, needed to play a more engaging role at home.
He said they needed to tell their children why it was not proper to start a relationship while still schooling and the consequences of doing so.
Among others, he reckoned that by providing moral and religious education at home, parents would condition their children’s mind to differentiate between right and wrong.
“Our children will check with their inner selves before attempting anything that can throw their lives into tatters,” Ghani added.
In addition, he pointed out that parents should make time for a regular heart to heart talk with their children.
“This is because at times, children attempted wild things just to attract their parents’ attention,” he said.
He also felt that it was irrational to introduce a fresh subject in school each time a problem cropped up as students would be the one to bear blunt of such action.
Students, he added, were already hard pressed to cope with their schoolwork.
“Therefore, any additional subject will make them dislike going to school,” he said.
He said this might prompt students to skip school as they might find it boring.
“Perhaps, we have to ask ourselves in attempting to solve a problem, are we creating a bigger problem which we may have overlooked?” he asked.
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