FORCED-FEEDING EDUCATION SYSTEM

I had a chance to work with the foreign primary school in town recently. One early morning, I happened to be at the school for some business matters.

The kids started streaming into the school. The teachers would stand at the entrance to greet their kids, some said hi, some just nodded, the friendly ones gave their teachers a big hug. The whole environment was filled with friendliness, warmth and happiness. I realised that not a kid was heavy ladden with a stuffed school bag and none of them came with a trolley school bag...making learning a de"light"ing experience for the kids.

Now, consider our local primary schools,...overbuilt compound congested with highrise classroom blocks, cemented and shaded halls...and a must item: trolley school bag. Just imaging a seven year-old kid braves up the 3-storey staircase with the trolley school bag weighing at least 5kg...is this leading anyway?

Whilst demanding our kids to memorise and spit out perfect answer for every question and to acquire straight As for all subjects...we killed their creativities. Our kids are good at copying, memorising and regurgitating.....is this what we want them to be?

Long study hours killed the carefree childhood. Based on my survey, a Primary 4 student spent almost 15 hours a day out of the house. School, tuition classes (well, not just one but three)...and this kind of lifestyle would haunt them until Form 5, most probably. Question: Educators, Policy makers - are you making education system an effective and efficient gateway for learning or what?

Please teach our kids to LEARN not to LEAN. Only then, Malaysia baru bolehlah!