LETTERS: Many parents, teachers and even lecturers expressed their dismay at the current syllabus in primary school, on social media.
This is because the syllabus is too advanced for pupils at a young age. Even some parents, who expect that the questions given to their children are easy, have to scratch their heads for the answers.
This issue was once raised a few years ago but did not receive any attention from the authorities.
That is why pupils have no choice but to follow the same syllabus even though we have proven that many people have achieved great success in our country or even abroad using the previous syllabus.
Some parents tried to compare the syllabus in Malaysia with the syllabus in other countries, such as the UK, which is deemed to be a far cry.
Hence, they questioned what we expect our students to achieve from the high complexity of the syllabus.
Are they going to be geniuses after being taught with the syllabus? What is worrisome is that they may, on the other hand, be stressed out.
We have to put ourselves in students' shoes to empathise with them. Otherwise, we may ruin their childhood that is supposed to be fun.
Pupils in Standard 1 still do not know how to read and write, but they have to learn advanced lessons, which may culminate in their interest in learning fading away.
Pupils in rural areas are finding it more difficult to understand their lessons. Teachers are also complaining that they have to put in blood, sweat and tears to make their students comprehend the lessons due to the inappropriate syllabus.
This will put both teachers and pupils under stress. Therefore, it is imperative to revise the syllabus to ensure that pupils will enjoy learning while teachers can enjoy teaching.
Dr Mohd Shahidan Shaari
Arifur Rahman Atiqur Rahman
Faculty of Applied and Human Sciences
Universiti Malaysia Perlis
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times
