KUALA LUMPUR, May 15 — Peninsular Malaysia’s National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) has set up a taskforce to study teaching methods in schools in facing situations like the Covid-19 outbreak.

NUTP Secretary-General Harry Tan Huat Hock said the social distancing pedagogy (relating to the methods and theory of teaching) would be released on May 22 with a panel of union members and university experts.

"Teachers used to only take courses on methods when dealing with students with disabilities, for example, but teaching and learning (PdP) in dealing with an outbreak of disease are very different.

"There is no teacher in the world who is taught to teach in a social distancing situation. We have no social distancing pedagogy.

‘’No pedagogy teaches scientifically, no data, no research done by any party,” he told Bernama TV recently.

The pedagogy, he said, was important to be used as a guide by teachers when delivering knowledge to students even under limited circumstances.

He said the task force, which was formed last April, was also conducting a scientific study on the suitable number of students in a class.

Commenting on online learning as recommended by the Education Ministry currently, Tan said the union welcomed the matter but asked the government to look at some areas for improvement.

This included free internet data that can be provided to teachers and students to keep both parties connected.

In the meantime, Tan urged all quarters to appreciate the duty and role of teachers which were increasingly challenging specifically when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country when the PDP had to be done fully via online platforms.

"So, teachers nowadays are no longer just a teacher, teaching in front of students. He now has to be an entertainer, an IT expert, an expert in the online applications he uses. The burden has somewhat increased,” he said.

However, he believed in the capability of teachers who would be able to meet their current requirements by incorporating innovative and creative elements into their teaching methods.

Teacher’s Day is celebrated on May 16 every year with this year’s theme being "Studying for Knowledge, Building a New Generation”. — Bernama