Man questions fairness in education system

Brian Ang

MIRI: A father’s disappointment with the tough Primary 2 Mandarin examination paper sat by his son recently has led him to post it on social network.

A section of the paper carried three questions with three historical characters, and pupils were to write short stories relating to them.

Father of two, Brian Ang, said he posted the paper after looking up his son’s textbook.

“To be honest, our education system is trying with the best of intentions to provide a good education for future generations.

“Undeniably, these characters have been taught, and they are meant to be elaborated in short stories for better understanding.

“However, what I wish to highlight to the school and the government is that such a syllabus is only good for bright students. For those who are weak and slow, they would be left behind,” Ang said when contacted yesterday.

According to him, his children are average pupils, and they speak English at home.

“The reason why I let them study in a Chinese school is for them to be able to speak at least basic Chinese. After all, we are Chinese, and it would be shame for us to forget how to speak our mother-tongue.”

However the tough examination format, he said, might instil fear in pupils, possibly causing them to shun learning Mandarin.

As most Chinese parents focused greatly on their children’s examination results, performing poorly in any subject might force them to push their children to study harder.

“Children are already stressed as it is with overloading homework and almost no leisure hours. It will be very sad to see these children being forced to fill their early years with homework and tuition — to the brink of insanity,” he said, hoping that the government could reassess the education system.

Meanwhile, a tuition teacher who only wished to be identified as Kong, said demands heaped upon tuition centres nowadays were high because parents had no time to help their children with their school work, unlike in the old days.

“To be honest, the stress felt by pupils is felt by us, too. We often struggle to help our pupils complete their homework and do revision.”

Kong, who has about five years of experience as a tuition teacher, noted that many subjects were getting tougher by the year.

“For fast learners, they may not have any problem, but my major concern is on those who are weak and needed more time to digest the syllabus. It is not fair to judge them based on the examination structure that we have.”

 

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