A consumer group today welcomed the Education Ministry's announcement to regulate student homework, but warned that merely setting guidelines - without prior studies or proper data on the student's ability to cope with heavy workloads - would not work.

Consumers' Association of Penang (CAP) also pointed out in a statement that the ministry's intention to tackle the problem of heavy schoolbags has remained unaddressed.

"At the moment, there is no regulation over the amount of homework that a child is given nor the content and quality of the homework," its president SM Mohamed Idris said, adding that routine homework exercises without clear objectives should be scrapped to lessen the non-teaching duties of teachers.

"CAP calls on ministry authorities to conduct a thorough evaluation of the amount, the content, as well as the actual effectiveness of homework that is being assigned throughout the country. As far as can be seen, there are no clear objectives in place, neither is there a monitoring system to ensure that homework is properly assigned or any objectives met."

Mohamed added: "While on this subject, it may be appropriate to mention the problem of heavy schoolbags which is placing an enormous 'burden' on the backs of school-goers. In March 2000, then Education Minister Musa Mohamad promised to look into the problem of heavy schoolbags.

Advisory body

"At that time, it was reported that the Education Ministry would come up with a proposal to reduce the burden of schoolchildren carrying heavy bags to school daily. However, to date, nothing has been done."

Mohamed instead proposed that the government set up an advisory body of outside experts - comprising parents, educators, child counselors and psychologists - to look into existing education policy and the problems faced by schoolchildren under the education system.

Following a report by an Australian psychologist that Malaysian children were spending too much time on homework, Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein last week said his ministry will soon issue a circular to limit the amount of homework permissible under the present system.

The report by Michael Carr-Gregg said Malaysian students were spending a higher average of 3.8 hours a day on homework, compared to counterparts in Singapore (3.5), Russia (3.1), Australia and Canada (2.2), Japan (1.7) and New Zealand (2).