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Sunday, April 6, 2014

Teacher in school-based assessment protest under pressure to accept transfer order

Suara Guru Masyarakat Malaysia head Mohd Nor Izzat Mohd Johari is filing a second appeal against a transfer order issued after the organisation led a protest against the school-based assessment in February. – The Malaysian Insider pic, April 6, 2014.Suara Guru Masyarakat Malaysia head Mohd Nor Izzat Mohd Johari is filing a second appeal against a transfer order issued after the organisation led a protest against the school-based assessment in February. – The Malaysian Insider pic, April 6, 2014.The teacher at the centre of the school-based assessment (SBA) protest is being boxed into a corner to accept his transfer order to a school in a rural area, which came after he stood up against the system and called for an overhaul of the new assessment programme.
Mohd Nor Izzat Mohd Johari, 29, is in the midst of his second appeal against the transfer order after his first attempt failed. Teachers are allowed to appeal only thrice against transfers.
Three weeks ago, he was relieved of all his teaching duties and small committee posts at his school in Jerantut, Pahang.
"I have been barred from teaching at this school and so, I have not been doing anything. It makes me feel so bad and restless," the Arts teacher told The Malaysian Insider.
"I believe this is their way of making me move to the school I have been transferred to, which is 80km from here."
His lawyer has advised him not to report at the new school until his appeal against the transfer is heard.
Izzat's sudden transfer came just days before the Suara Guru Masyarakat Malaysia (SGMM), which he heads, had gathered for a protest in February.
The transfer is believed to be over Izzat's criticism of the SBA system and is seen as an attempt to clamp down on SGMM's protest.
Izzat, a teacher of two years, said his two other friends who also received transfer orders for the same reason, had caved in to pressure and accepted their orders.
"They couldn't take the pressure from some other parties and had no choice but to go to their new schools," he said.
Following criticism from activists and the opposition, Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin denied he had a hand in Izzat's transfer.
The married father-of-one had previously said that he had been warned that speaking up against the administration could cost him dearly.
However, insisting that his fight against the SBA was to champion the rights of his overburdened colleagues, Izzat is adamant about seeing a drastic change to the SBA even if he loses his government job along the way.
Despite a revision to the SBA, which was announced by Muhyiddin last month, Izzat said the changes did not solve the system's weaknesses but instead had just "covered them up".
"It is sort of a cosmetic change and does not really solve the SBA's weaknesses. We are still not satisfied and will continue with our fight against these flaws," he added.
He is now collecting signatures online to be handed over in a memorandum to the prime minister and Yang di-Pertuan Agong to bring the matter to their attention.
"We want to hand in the memorandum as soon as the last date to submit signatures, April 14, is over. We will not stop until there is a change."
The Malaysian Insider had reported that teachers and school administrators who found it hard to cope with the SBA to track pupils' performances had fallen back on examinations.
This has led to a situation where many schools have two systems. On the surface is the SBA, which is done to please officials in Putrajaya, but beneath that is the old annual examination system, SGMM said.
The examination system is being implemented by individual schools without the knowledge of Putrajaya.
Using two systems, SGMM said, was causing a lot of strain on teachers and school officials. Following SGMM's protest, the ministry announced that SBA has been put on hold until it could be reviewed and amendments made to it.
On March 18, Muhyiddin announced that the ministry had revised the SBA, saying that they no longer needed to key in data online, thanks to an improved system.
He said the move was expected to reduce their burden by about 80% and other improvements included the replacement of the Standard Performance Document (SPD), which required a detailed input of data based on description and evidence of pupils' performance.
The SPD has now been simplified and downgraded into an advisory, where teachers can assess their pupils' development based on their observations and assessment using the advisory as a guide. 

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