Tuesday, November 9, 2010

EDUCATION SUPPORT SERVICES 2: MALAYSIA

Issues and Challenges


5.2 The main challenge of the MOE in the development of support services is to improve the quality of school hostels with substandard facilities and is unsafe for accommodation in the rural areas. Such hostels were built through gotong royong projects or on ad hoc basis initiated by the local community, using low quality building materials and sub-standard building plans. The MOE also faces an increasing demand for residential schools to cater for the growing number of qualified and excellent students. At the same time, many hostels at teacher training colleges are underutilised due to the reduction in teacher trainee intakes for pre-service training. The overall cost of managing and operating these hostels have also risen with the increasing number of hostels and boarders as well as escalating prices of materials and services.

5.3 The operational costs for the text-book loan scheme (Skim Pinjaman Buku Teks, SPBT) have also increased. Furthermore, if the plan to replace the present printed text books with electronic books or e-book is realized, the MOE will need a bigger allocation to supply these e-books to students; train teachers and personnel in managing, maintaining, and storing such books; and provide for systematic and effective e-book distribution system.

5.4 The MOE also faces the challenge of providing sufficient funds for scholarships and study loans to all students and ensuring an effective management of the funds. For the Integrated School Health Programme (Program Bersepadu Sekolah Sihat, PBSS), the MOE has to ensure that all schools receive the services provided under the programme and to increase the frequency of these services. For the Supplementary Food Programme (Rancangan Makanan Tambahan, RMT) for primary schools, the challenge is to increase its allocation in order to expand the services to more poor students and ensure that the meals provided are nutritious and well balanced.

5.5 The MOE also faces the challenge of providing sufficient numbers of full-time student counselors to schools. At present, the number of counselors provided for each school is determined by using the existing ratio for teacher allocation. This practice is a disadvantage, especially to schools with small enrolment where the school heads usually have to assume the role of the counselor as well.

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