Clients' Charter In Schools (Piagam Pelanggan)

I think all government agencies have their Piagam Pelanggan. The one below is from JKR Terengganu. Usually they contain what the organisation hope to be able to deliver and achieve...the objective ...customer satisfaction.Schools are no different, having jumped on the same piagam bandwagon. Schools have their own Clients' Charters or known as the Piagam Pelanggan. The word pelanggan is a Bahasa Malaysia word which basically means customers. So basically, for the school, the pelanggan for a school would be the parents or waris, the students and the teachers are all the school's customers.

Anyway, if we go by the business model, then the customer is always right. Would that mean the students and their parents are always right? Won't this then affect the learning process as some autonomy and authority will be compromised where the educators are concerned because we will be required to seek to please and ensure customer satisfaction? I don't know but one must remember that the teaching and learning processes may sometimes contain unpleasant elements which when we act on them may not bring about satisfaction to the customers/clients.

I think we cannot liken the school to a business. Schools are learning institutions. If we adopt this client/customer concept, then what would happen to the learning culture? The principles behind consumerism and learning differ some what.

If students are viewed as learners then they should be treated as such. Consumers and learners are not exactly the same thing. So, while in essence some of the charters have good intention, the term pelanggan may not actually be suitable. Anyway, if we were to take a look at most of the schools' charters, they actually read more like a vision and mission of the schools. A school is a place of learning where students and teachers should be part of a learning community and not just providers and customers. We should not jump on the bandwagon just because it looks fashionable...