IPOH, May 17 — Teachers are the ones who educate and nurture us and they are to be honoured because they teach us the art of living as well.

Malay Mail talked to four teachers on their wish list on Teachers Day yesterday.

Despite varying hopes and expectations, they yearned for one common thing: fewer or smaller classes so they could focus on giving a more enhanced education to their students.

Ariff Fadzillah Abu Hassan, 52, a Malay Language and Civics Education teacher at Anglo Chinese School (ACS) Ipoh, said a teacher would normally have to handle six classes.

“Our job does not just revolve around teaching the students.

“We have to do administration work too, such as marking exam papers, checking students’ attendance, their daily and weekly reports, and much more.

“Sometimes, we have to get involved in the students’ clubs and societies too,” he added.

Ariff, who has 24 years of teaching experience, said effective education was not being measured academically, but the true meaning of was in the betterment of the students themselves as a whole.

“It is pointless if the students are highly praised by society for being ‘someone’ in their eyes but are morally degraded,” he said.

He added that people often forget the school did not only function as an educational institution but also to humanise students.

“This explains why most parents do not trust the teachers as educators. We once were, during my time,” said Ariff.

Nurul Sarah Hijazi, 31, from Ipoh Fairview International School, admitted that education was more effective in international schools compared to government-run schools.

She said teachers in international schools only had a class of 25 students at most.

Sarah, who teaches visual arts, previously taught at a government school for four years.

“I know how hectic it can be for the teachers in government schools to cope with the schedule and it affects their ability to teach.”

Sarah, who moved to Fairview early this year, said the workload of government school teachers could be reduced by passing their administrative work to assistants.

“For example, the teachers in my school have an assistant in each session. We do not have to worry about the administrative work.

“This not only enhances our teaching abilities but allows us to reach out to more students as well,” she said.

Husband and wife Muzammil Zainal Abidin, 28, and Nur Hafizah Abdullah, 27, teach at different schools in Perak.

Muzammil teaches English at Sultan Yusof School in Batu Gajah while Nur Hafizah teaches Malay Language and Geography at SMK Poi Lam Ipoh.

They agreed that the quality of teaching would improve if teachers were not burdened with too much work.

“We also hope that the education policy is more consistent so that educators can better understand the features before new measures are implemented.”