COMMENT | My fellow columnist Fa Abdul has put together such a beautiful piece on the plight of teachers these days.

By giving the illustration of one Daniel (name changed, I presume), Fa Abdul has hit the bull’s eye, and with this, I hope it is time for officers from both the Education Ministry and its State Education Departments to wake up.

In particular, it is time for all three – present Minister of Education Mahdzir Khalid (photo), and his two deputies, P Kalamanathan and Chong Sin Woon – to wake up. The Education Ministry has been helmed by politicians who are merely fond of implementing the “touch-and-go” policy.

The real issues are not being dealt with. A change or relaxation in a certain policy is done based on who has the louder voice. Or, as Daniel rightly pointed out: After some time, Malaysians are “falling back on their old ways”.

We have yet to see whether the heavy bag issue and additional workbooks will be enforced throughout the country. If yes, for how long? Or, is it just for the show?

Fa is far from wrong when she said that the education blueprint is in place, but its implementation is what has gone wrong. We are like the proverbial Malay saying, “Crabs trying to crawl out of the basket.”

Who to blame?

Let me tell you who is to blame.

For 17 years, the circular on workbooks issued in 2000 and later another one in 2014 was put in place, yet school administrators are giving the ministry the snub. Why, for example, after the Selangor Education Department discovered that some schools in the state are not following the circular, heads are not rolling?

Maybe, it is to give face. Or, the punishment is just a slap on the wrist, because disciplinary measures are at the pleasure of the state education directors.

This is serious, especially when the mother of a Standard Five girl revealed that she had to purchase 29 workbooks! My son, who is in Standard 3 in the same school, has 21 workbooks, including one on each subject given free by the government.

In my previous articles, I have mentioned that scores of letters had been sent to the ministry and the state Education Department; therefore, I find it appalling when I read Chong’s comment in The Star: “But it’s hard to get proof without cooperation from stakeholders.”

This, despite him getting the wind on schools asking parents to buy a lot of workbooks since 2015. Yet, why was no formal investigation been carried out? When no heads roll, people become bolder.

If I may say, all district education officers have been told to keep their ears to the ground. But did they? No? Why not?

We are not even accusing any headmaster of being on the take, but when evidence like 29 workbooks for Standard Five and 21 workbooks for Standard Three emerged, they are all hard evidence that the ministry’s directive had been breached...