Malaysian school system

The education system here in Malaysia is quite different from that in Australia and not necessarily better. There are good things - my kids are learning to speak, read and write chinese, a skill I hope they retain for life. My daughter attends primary school (gr. 2) in the afternoons, from1 - 6.20, so we get to spend mornings together, just us 2, doing homework or pottering around the house. That also means she goes to bed quite late (10.30 most nights), but it's OK, because she doesn't get up til 9.

My son is attending a montessori based kinder program where he is also learning chinese and malay. Unlike most kinders, his doesn't give out homework. There is a lot of pressure on the kinder programs to adequately prepare the children for the regimented curriculum that the grade schools follow. Standards are high, competition is encouraged and the children are disciplined with the aid of a ruler. The system is quite archaic.

Classrooms are basic. A chair and table for each student and teacher. There are no lockers, reading corners, play areas. The kids carry their books in their bag and this system uses text books and activity books as a base, so there are a lot of books, even for the 6 year olds. So many in fact, the kids need one of those trolley bags to put them in because there is no way they can carry it. Class sizes are around 35 - 40 students per class and school is held in 2 sessions. Morning 7.30 - 12.50 for the older kids 1 - 6.20 for younger children. The kids have a measly 20 minutes break in the middle of the session to eat a snack and go to the toilet.

Still, my daughter enjoys school. She likes her friends and she enjoys her computer and sports classes. She gets a bit down if she has a lot of homework, but we get her through that. She likes to achieve and get things right and she does better than most of her peers, no matter that at home, we don't speak, read or write chinese. Cousins or friends help us when she has chinese homework that she doesn't know how to do.

Amazingly, there are kids who attend tuition classes as well as school. I don't know how these kids and families cope. We tried it for a while. My girl would go to school and then two nights a week she would come home for an hour and then go out again for another 2 hours of academic activities. We lasted a month. It just got too much. On those nights, she didn't have time to play (mornings are for homework) and I could see the stress she was under. She'd also miss out on things like going shopping or out for a swim at night - things that make life pleasant and enabled her to let off steam. So we put a stop to it. Needless to say, she's a bit more relaxed now. Everything's back to normal.

I often think that if she enjoys school here, imagine how she'd feel if she were attending one of our lovely Australian primary schools. So relaxed and colourful. Maybe one day.