Malaysian parents have recently express concern when their children showed boredom and lost interest in the online classes since last year. Among the factors that caused the situation were the lack of devices, unstable internet connection and the inability of parents to guide their children.
According to Sinar Harian, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) had conducted a study in the flats around Kuala Lumpur on the B40 group and they found that 6 out of 10 students began to lose motivation on online learning.
Nonetheless, the Joint Lead Fellow of the Institute of Ethnic Studies (KITA) and the Institute of Malay World and Civilization (ATMA) of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Prof Datuk Dr Teo Kok Seong, said that this issue should be taken seriously as it will have a negative impact on the learning process.
“Among the negative impacts that students will face is that they will feel less confident in learning in the long run even though the teaching and learning after that is carried out physically or face to face at school.”
“When students lack confidence, it will have an impact on learning performance.”
“If this continues, students will not be interested in attending school and this will increase the students drop out too.” he said.
Kok Seong said that the internet access had been one of the most contributing factor for students to lose interest in learning online.
“The internet infrastructure is not good, the worst we can see is some students had to climb uphill to get better internet coverage.”
“This will indirectly affect the mentality of students to undergo online learning,” he said.
Therefore, he suggested that the government conduct more counseling sessions for students affected by the implementation of online learning to help them restore their confidence in learning.
“I think that it will not be a problem if the counseling session is conducted online but the government should think of other ways as fearing that that some students will not participate because they are tired of that way.” he said.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian Muslim Teachers Association (i-Guru) is concerned about the low attendance record of students following online learning at this time.
i-Guru’s President, Mohd Azizee Hasan, said the decrease in the number reflected more students who would intend to drop out of their studies. However, he said that they will identify the factors that cause the number of students attending online classes to decrease, whether it is internet access problems or unattractive ways of delivery by teachers.
“We have to take all those things into account so that during the Covid-19 pandemic, our children will still get the best education.”
“So, this is where the need for parental support is to always give encouragement and monitor the children to attend the class.” he said.
He added that education remains a priority even during the Covid-19 pandemic as it is to ensure knowledge is being pass down from generation to generation.
