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February 24, 2006 16:49 PM |
| Don't Treat Teaching As Transition
Job - Abdullah |
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KEPALA BATAS, Feb 24 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Friday reminded teachers not to treat their profession merely as a "transition" while waiting for
a better job elsewhere.
The Prime Minister said, after making a decision to become a teacher a person must discharge
the responsibilities with full dedication and to the best of his or her ability, even though teaching was not their main choice
initially.
"It should not be the case of 'since there is no other job, become a teacher first and the teacher's job
is only temporary, work for a while before moving to greener pastures in other places'," he told reporters after opening a
seminar entitled "Caring Teachers Catalyst for Human Development".
The one-day seminar organised by Yayasan Budi Penyayang
in collaboration with the State Government was attended by 600 teachers from schools in Penang.
Abdullah said teachers
who showed no interest and responsibility would not be able to impart knowledge to their students effectively and cannot contribute
to human development as expected by the government.
He said such teachers would not be able to focus fully on teaching
and students who really depended on teachers for knowledge and guidance would be disappointed.
"This is not good. I'm
afraid the children will be deprived as such teachers cannot teach them with full focus. When they have no interest, how are
they going to concentrate fully on students?" he said.
Hence, he said, those who chose to be teachers, not as a first
option, must adapt themselves to love the profession and understand how noble the profession was.
"They must realise
students depend on teachers to become smart and parents hope teachers will educate their children. Parents and students have
great trust and confidence on teachers," he said.
Earlier, in his speech, Abdullah said opting to become teachers was
not a responsibility or an obligation that must be performed every day like performing prayers but when the profession was
chosen, it becomes a duty for teachers and it can be regarded as a "religious obligation" which could not be neglected.
He
said it was the duty of teachers to educate students to become good human capital and useful to the nation as the country
needs value-added workforce in future in terms of knowledge, skills and capabilities not only in terms of physical and mental
strength but also religious values.
"Teachers cannot fail," said Abdullah, urging them to love their students as by
doing so, they could actively educate the children.
On the more than 10,000 student dropouts in the country, especially
boys in 2003 as reported by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, he said the government was aware of it and was finding
an appropriate approach to tackle it.
"Student dropouts problem is not linked to the country's education system. It's
more to the problem of poverty of the students' families," he said.
He said the students had to leave school to help
their families to earn a living.
"This is different from the student dropout problem in the past when students can
dropout after failing in Form Three and start working," he said.
He said the current education system did not provide
an avenue for a student to leave school because it gives a direct passage to them to continue their education from primary
school to Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia level.
-- BERNAMA
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