BETONG: Starting the school session at 8 am is not suitable in Sarawak and Sabah.
However, the suggestion is practical in Peninsular Malaysia because it allows the students to do proper preparation before they head to school.
This was the opinion of the chairman of Lembaga Amanah Khairat Islam Spaoh (LAKIS) Dr Abang Ismail Abang Julhi regarding the issue raised by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)’s Faculty of Education, Education Wellbeing and Research Centre education expert Dr Anuar Ahmad recently.
Abang Ismail stated that the situation in Sarawak and Sabah is different from Peninsular Malaysia due to the different timelines.
“This means, 8 am in Kelantan or Perlis is the same as 8 am in Kuching and Tawau.
“But the fact is our time is not the same. At the moment it is 5.15 am in Tawau, in Perlis it is 6.25 am. That being said, the timeline difference between Sabah and Perlis is one hour and 10 minutes, while in Sarawak, there might be one hour.
“That being said, if the school session in Sarawak begins at 8 am, then the school session in Sabah will begin at 9 am.
“Which is why I felt that the time is quite late to begin school session,” he said in a response to the suggestion to begin school session at 8 am here, yesterday.
He added that the children should be trained to wake up around 5 am for them to get used to performing the morning prayers or Solat Subuh, especially those who are Muslims.
“Apart from that, it could train them to sleep early, around 9 pm or 10 pm to get enough sleep for those aged seven until 17.
“The second issue related to the suggestion is the office hours that are the same as the school session.
“Most of the government offices in Sarawak and Sabah open at 8 or 8.30 am depending on the alternative hours.
“Therefore, if the school session hours are the same as the office hours, it will cause more critical traffic congestion, especially in the cities. Right now, it is already happening in most of the major cities such as Kuching, Miri, Kota Kinabalu, Tawau and others,” he added.
He stated that the effect will be on parents, who have to rush in sending their kids to school before heading to the office.
“I will not rule out the possibility of the parents giving excuses of being late to the office because of the traffic jam while sending their kids to school.
“In this matter, I have already seen two related issues appear.
“That said, I find that the school session in Sarawak, Sabah starting at 7 to 7.30 am is the suitable time since the time zone is different and such a situation is the same with the government’s office hours,” he added.
“I hope the federal Minister of Education (MOE) will look back at the suggestion.
“As I’ve said earlier, this suggestion might be practical for schools in Malaya, but it is not suitable for schools in Sarawak and Sabah,” he added.
Earlier, it was reported by a national newspaper that the suggestion was first made by Datuk Dr Mohamed Fadzil Hassan, who is the Exco Pembangunan Insan, Pendidikan, Pengajian Tinggi, dan Teknologi Maklumat Kelantan during the State Legislative Assembly sitting in 2018.
