Malaysian educators bemoan short lead time before introduction of coding lessons

KUALA LUMPUR — An ambitious initiative to integrate coding into Malaysia’s national school curricula has worried teachers’ groups, who said they were unaware of the preparations taken for the plan, meant to begin in January.

The groups expressed concern that they had not been informed of the move, which not only involves educating students on coding but also to integrate the skill into the pedagogy of teaching starting in the new school year.

National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) president Hashim Adnan said that while he believed in the importance of equipping the next generation with coding literacy, the programme may be doomed unless the proper foundation is laid before its introduction.

“If they say they are going to start in January, it’s going to be a failure if there isn’t enough preparation,” he told Malay Mail Online.

“It definitely has to start, but there needs to be proper textbooks. But, at this point, it seems like it’s only at a discussion stage if there is nothing prepared.”

Mr Hashim cited the 2009 abolishment of the teaching and learning of science and mathematics in English policy as an example of a good initiative that was executed poorly, and warned that the same fate could befall coding.

Last Monday, Ms Yasmin Mahmood, CEO of national ICT custodian Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation announced that coding would be officially added to the syllabuses of Malaysian national schools starting next year. The full details, however, will only be revealed during its official announcement in August, she said.

Malay Mail Online understands that the integration of coding will be a part of the teaching pedagogy for selected subjects in the standard one curriculum starting next year, while a new subject dedicated to coding will be introduced for those entering Forms One and Four, but only in selected schools as an elective.

Education non-governmental organisation Kelab Intelek dan Pendidikan Malaysia (Malaysia Education and Intellect Club) chief moderator Mohd Nor Izzat Mohd Johari said he was pessimistic about the implementation with just five months to go.

“Even if they start training teachers now, it will definitely create a disruption in classrooms because they need to train so many teachers in such a short period of time,” he said when contacted by Malay Mail Online.

“They said they had conducted a pilot programme, but what are the results of the programme?

“There needs to be a systematic way to scrutinise the studies conducted and the details of how it can be implemented throughout the country.”

He said with no details on the level of the programme’s integration, there is an added fear that not all schools would have the infrastructure to implement technology-based syllabuses.

Both NUTP and the Malaysia Education and Intellect Club said they were not aware of any teachers being tapped for training or who were informed of the introduction of coding. MALAY MAIL ONLINE