The programme has been fraught with hasty planning and poor execution right from the start. Personally, I think it is good to raise the competency level of English since its importance cannot be denied. But being in a 'kampung' environment has also made me realise the uphill task that we face. I think majority of the teachers understand the need for this policy and are willing to try. But understanding and willingness to try alone cannot ensure the success. Competency of the language is another reason. And our political masters who seem to be backtracking each time their political survival is threatened is another major factor.
Of the RM3.2 billion, more than RM2 billion was used for ICT. The teachers and students benefited somewhat but the sheer amount of wastage is incredible. Equipment is fixed up in classrooms and allowed to collect dust. Eventually, they are written off.
In a particular project, lower secondary classrooms were fixed with this system made up of a switchboard, speakers, projector and a power regulator. Many of these facilities have not even been used at all and they are laying to waste. And not much thought were put into where to fix them. The power regulator above is fixed on the floor. And you know how dusty and dirty a classroom floor can be. And many schools do nothing to ensure that they are maintained too. In a couple more years, many of these components will become scrap metal.Perhaps instead of fixing up these 'useless' facilities, the money could have been better spent by giving grants to all teachers (instead of just the English, Math & Science) once every 5 years to buy a computer. Teachers deserve that. Right now a big percentage of the allocation does not seem to be well spent. I guess the people who make the most money out of this are the companies who won the tenders for supplying the equipment. But this is only what I perceive. Maintenance units should be set up in every school to ensure that the investment that has been made does not go to waste. You cannot expect the teachers to do this because their main job is to teach. Right now, teachers wear too many hats.
And by giving grants to teachers, this will also break the monopoly of the companies given the tenders...I think the price they quote often is preposterously high. Some may say because it involves the software costs but I think this can be solved by moving towards Linux based system or something along that line. Creative solutions are possible if we put our minds to it wholeheartedly and we do it sincerely. And by giving it (grants for computers) to the teachers, the cost of maintenance for hardware would be reduced quite a lot too. This sort of empowering would reduce the administrators workload by quite a bit as well....
It's also not practical to fix projectors in every classroom...not in our present state of school environment. One must remember that classrooms are not like lecture rooms or halls in higher institutions. There're issues of security as well as dust. Classrooms are generally too open...we cannot afford to provide air-conditioning for all the classrooms, can we? So, perhaps we should come up with a national blueprint (or something like that) for the setting up of resource rooms, standard operating procedure for schools, something like that. Anyway, not every lesson needs the use of ICT. Until we come up with something more concrete and not do things on an ad-hoc basis, the issue of wastage will continue to eat into a huge chunk of the budget...money spent but, foolishly...
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