NEWS: Worth going single?

Most stakeholders seem to be in favour, but it won’t be easy to implement single-session schools.

IN 2007, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi called for the implementation of single-session schools to keep children safe from danger. It was in the aftermath of the Nurin murder case and there was widespread concern for the safety of children. (Nurin Jazlin Jazimin was reported missing on Aug 20, 2007. Her body was later found in a sports bag in a shoplot in Petaling Jaya.)

Abdullah explained that this would mean that students have to start school at the same time as they are doing now and go home later. Hence parents, especially working parents, would be relieved to know that their children were safe in school where they could be monitored.
To overcome the shortage of space problem, Wesley Methodist School has expanded upwards and now comprises multiple storey blocks.

How it works

Education director-general Datuk Alimuddin Mohd Dom supports this view.

“Students can be supervised better in a single-session system,” he says.

“One of the justifications for the implementation of single-session schools is to reduce incidents of children being left at home alone after school hours.”

According to Alimuddin, the Education Ministry is striving to implement single-session schools throughout the country.

Presently, 6,757 primary schools (88.4%) and 1,392 (63.8%) secondary schools are single-session schools.
Teachers at SMK Sri Aman find it easier to arrange for orchestra rehearsals as all the students are in school at the same time.

The ministry aims to increase the percentage of single-session primary and secondary schools to 90% and 70% respectively by 2010.

A pilot study on single-session schools in Setiu, Terengganu — conducted by the ministry in 2006 — found that schools utilised the extra hours in the afternoon to offer Islamic religious lessons, coaching under the tuition voucher scheme and sports activities.

In addition, the longer hours enabled schools to provide more structured co-curricular programmes that encouraged students to participate actively in clubs, societies and sports activities.

“There are more contact hours between teachers and students,” muses Alimuddin.

“This promotes better student-teacher interaction and schools are able to offer extra lessons in critical subjects, religious studies, Mandarin and Tamil classes.”
With longer school hours, students have more time for co-curricular activities which foster solidarity and esprit de corps.

Single-session systems are already popular in cluster and private schools in the country.

In general, such schools start like any morning session school, with formal classes ending at around 2.30pm and co-curricular activities, sports and extra classes keeping students in school till 4pm.

Feedback

When quizzed, the majority of students and parents were divided on the issue.

Sue Thong Sei Yin, a remisier by profession, was definitely in favour of single-session schools.

“I have a son in Form Four and a daughter in Form One,” she explains.

“It is much easier for me to send them to school and pick them up at the same time.

“A single-session school allows curricular and co-curricular activities to be carried out during school hours so that students can then go home and enjoy family time together.”

Although she agrees with Thong that single-session schools are convenient, fifth former Shaza Hana Muhd Faisal, 17, says she would opt for a double-session format any day.

“Schooling hours are just too long,” complains the student from single-session school, SMK Puteri Titiwangsa, Kuala Lumpur.

“My friends in other schools go home at 12.30pm or 1pm, but I have to stay on till 2.30pm.

“I’m involved in Puteri Islam (a uniformed body) and I only get to go home at 4pm some days. This can be very tiring.”

Although many students agree with Shaza, SMK USJ12 Form Five student Denise Leom begs to differ.

Originally a single-session school, SMK USJ12 was converted into a double-session one after a sharp increase in Form One student enrolment.

“The change came when I was in Form Two. Although I now get to go home earlier, I still prefer single-session schools,” she says.

“There was greater school spirit then, and I learnt a lot from the Form Four and Form Five prefects. However, I guess the switch to double sessions was unavoidable.”
TAN: Single-session schools allow for better planning and more optimal use of manpower.

Clear benefits

Apart from safety, single-session schools also offer other benefits, as principals of various schools are quick to point out.

“Single-session schools allow for better planning and the optimal use of manpower,” said Sri Kuala Lumpur Primary School principal Tan Khun.

“In a double-session system, lower primary or lower secondary teachers who are qualified to teach their students as they proceed to higher levels can’t do so because the system prevents this.

“However, this kind of continuity is possible in single-session schools.”

SMK (P) Sri Aman principal Alainal Hasani Md Noor also points out that a single-session school fosters greater staff and student solidarity.

“Everyone feels that they are part of the school as there is no separation between morning and afternoon sessions,” she said. “With all students in school at the same time, it is also easier to organise sports and team building activities.

Wesley Methodist School principal Vimala Matthews agrees that there are advantages to single-session schools as students do most academic work in the morning.

“Afternoons are just a bad time to study as the hot weather is not conducive,” she said.

“Many government schools don’t have air-conditioning.”
"Single-session schools can help reduce incidents of children being left at home alone after school hours"- DATUK ALIMUDDIN MOHD DOM

Challenges

However, Alimuddin admits that implementing a single-session system nationwide will not be easy.

“There are many implications,” he says. “For example, parents will incur more expense as they need to provide extra pocket money for their children’s lunch. The ministry also anticipates a 50% increase in electricity and water usage.

“A single-session system may also cause greater traffic congestion in the mornings and late afternoons, especially in urban areas.”

Alimuddin also highlights several stumbling blocks to implementing a nationwide single-session school system — the lack of suitable land to build new schools in urban areas and the high cost of upgrading and building new school blocks.

“Even if new schools are built, there is no guarantee that parents will be willing to transfer their children there as such schools need to build up their reputation,” he says.

There is also the problem of rising enrolment figures for schools in areas like Kuala Lumpur and Johor, which sometimes result in former single-session schools getting converted into double-session ones.

Maznah (not her real name) is a former principal of one such school in Selangor. Her school became a double-session one after an increase of 300 new students.

“The ministry said that the school was over populated and we had to split into two sessions,” she says. “Many of us teachers were disappointed. We appealed against the decision but were overruled.

“Management of a single-session school is easier,” she adds.

The way forward

Dr Tan is no stranger to when it comes to over-populated schools. He encountered this problem when he was the principal of SMJK(C) Chung Hwa, Kelantan.

With more than 2,000 students and record enrolment every year, bold measures had to be undertaken to ensure that the school’s single-session format could continue.

A believer in the dictum “the sky’s the limit”, Dr Tan and his staff decided to construct three five-storey blocks.
ALAINAL: Everyone feels they are part of the school as there is no separation between morning and afternoon sessions.

“Yes, space is always a problem, especially for popular urban schools but we can’t use that as an excuse,” he said. “You have to make full use of all available land.

The ministry is of the same mind. Alimuddin feels that the construction of “high rise school blocks” like the eight-storey SMK Cochrane in Kuala Lumpur, may be a possible solution to the lack of land problem.

He also feels that most teaching staff would, in the long run, prefer the single-session system.

“There may be some initial dissatisfaction and adjustments must be made,” he says.

“However, I sincerely believe that teachers will warm up to the idea eventually as they will have more time to prepare for lessons and examine students’ work during school hours.”

Another point worth noting is that while some single-session schools in the Klang Valley have been changed into double-session ones, the reverse has also happened.

“Sri Aman was originally a double-session school but being a cluster school, we had the autonomy to revamp our system and we opted to go single-session after our afternoon supervisor retired,” shares Alainal.

With contributions worth RM1.4mil from the school’s parent-teacher association, a new block was constructed. This contained more classrooms, a meeting room, computer labs and a gym.

“All of us are happy and we hope to remain a single-session school. The students are responding well to the change, and our science students study English Literature and Principles of Accounting after 2.30pm.

“The only ‘problem’ is congestion in the staff room,” says Alainal, with a laugh.