Education Expert Says Schools Should Start at 8am Rather Than Current Time, M’sians Disagree

Recently, Education expert from the Education Diversity Study Center of the National University of Malaysia (UKM), Dr Anuar Ahmad said that schools in Peninsular Malaysia should start at 8am.

He said that this proposal was to celebrate the concept of Civilized Malaysia and the slogan ‘Happy Students, Happy Teachers, Happy Schools and a Prosperous Nation’.

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According to Sinar Harian, he said that the government should have compassion and empathy for the situation of teachers, parents and children who have to wake up as early as 4:30 in the morning as the current school session starts at 7:30am.

“If you are in the city, you have to go through traffic jams as early as 6 am to go to school. In rural schools, small children have to walk in rickshaws and get muddy. Some have to walk on small trails. Some children have to go to school by boat while it is still dark.”

He added that the move also allowed the children to have breakfast with their families instead of having to rush to school.

“If the government is concerned about the well-being and health of the people, what’s wrong with us doing something right for the people by starting the school session at 8am,” he explained.

He also said that in order to implement the proposal, the Ministry of Education is also advised to reduce school sessions by 15 minutes for the morning and afternoon sessions.

“It’s only 30 minutes. I don’t think it’s an issue if the MoE reduces 15 minutes of the morning session and 15 minutes of the afternoon session,” he added.

Is it a good idea?

Anuar’s comments has since gone viral on social media as fellow Malaysians weighed in on whether or not it was a good move. The majority of Malaysians appeared to have completely disagreed with him and said that there is no need to change something which is not faulty.

“It will make traffic jams much worse and what about those who have to go to work. Identify the root cause. Make public transportation more accessible.”

One user commented, “Starting at 8 will mean that you’d have to fight with those who are going to work at 8. Schools have been starting at 7:30am for a while now, why do you suddenly want to change it?”

“It’s been so many years from when I was in school till now my child is in school that schools have started at 7-7:30am. Why now you want to make noise?“, commented another user.

What do you think of his suggestion? Let us know in the comments section.

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