JOHOR BARU: Parents should do some “soul-searching” on why their children did poorly in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) 2022 examination, says a parent-teacher association (PTA).
“There should be a huge reflection on our own actions,” said Pasir Gudang PTA focal person Mahat Japar.
He said that parental guidance played a crucial role in the effectiveness of home-based teaching and learning (PdPR), especially in secondary schools.
“The PdPR was introduced as a way for our children to be able to continue learning safely at home during the pandemic,” he added.
But based on the SPM results released earlier this month, he said “a large number of us had faced trouble adapting to the changes in the education system.”
A group called Untuk Malaysia (For Malaysia), which advocates quality education and a good support system for Malaysians, found that 89,752 students (24%) of the 373,974 candidates who sat for the SPM last year had failed Mathematics. Another 52,674 candidates (14%) did not pass English.
“The PdPR is more than just making sure that children have finished their homework. Parents should ensure that they understand the tasks given to them,” said Mahat when contacted.
He said that giving children full access to the Internet without supervision was also a factor that could have led to their poor performance.
“They might only focus on their studies for the first 10 minutes, then they might browse other stuff on the Internet. So again, parental guidance is needed,” he said.Mahat said there were also cases of students who went for brief job stints before sitting for their examination.
“Some jobs, such as food delivery, offer immediate cash payments, which have encouraged some students to quit their studies and focus on earning money.”
He said that parents should discourage their children from chasing financial freedom at such an early age.
National Parents, Community, and Private Sector chairman Datuk Yahya Jaafar said that many factors might have affected the SPM results.
“We must first identify the causes before we can come up with a solution,” he said.
For now, he said the Education Ministry should be given time to study the matter.
“Let the investigations be completed first,” said Yahya, adding that he would be meeting with ministry officials soon.
