MELAKA, Dec 15 — The National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) has called on the government to set up a special committee to review the workload of teachers.
Its president Aminuddin Awang said the committee is important to seek resolutions on the workload of teachers so that teaching and learning sessions at school can be carried out smoothly.
He said the proposal to establish the committee had been submitted to several education ministers before but no action was taken.
"The proposal to establish a special committee to study the workload of teachers will be brought to the new Minister of Education Fadhlina Sidek in a meeting between NUTP and the minister in the near future.
"Nowadays teachers are heavily burdened with irrelevant tasks such as clerical work thus taking away precious time between teachers and students," he told reporters after a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) exchange ceremony between NUTP and Tech Insure Sdn Bhd (A Tech) here today.
He said other issues that will be presented at the meeting include the implementation of the Academic Session Final Examination (UASA) next year, which is seen as adding new burdens to teachers, including checking test papers, printing questions and entering marks online.
He said that if the workload is not handled carefully, it is feared that it will create a wave of anger among the teachers against the Ministry of Education, which is the reason why many teachers choose to retire early.
Aminuddin said that apart from that, NUTP hopes Fadhlina would continue the good policies or initiatives that the government has implemented before so that teachers and students are not burdened with policy changes every time there is a change of government or minister.
In another development, he said about 400,000 teachers under the Ministry of Education have the opportunity to renew their vehicle insurance in installments of up to 10 months without interest through the MyEzyCover Civil Servant Vehicle Insurance Financing Programme.
He said the initiative implemented in collaboration with A Tech aims to help civil servants, especially teachers who have high financial commitments, to reduce financial pressure, especially when renewing vehicle insurance.
"We welcome 400,000 teachers including 230,000 NUTP members across the country to take advantage of the initiatives provided and the payment of this loan will be done through salary deductions by Angkasa.
Earlier, at the MoU exchange ceremony, Aminuddin represented NUTP while A Tech was represented by its chairman Tan Sri Dr Abu Kassim Mohamed. — Bernama
