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Thursday, February 02, 2023

Parents against suggestion to start school at 8am




Parents against suggestion to start school at 8am


Most schools start at 7.30am and end at 1pm.


PETALING JAYA: Many parents are not keen on a proposal for the school session to start at 8am as it will burden those who have to go to work.

Several parents FMT spoke to said it was not a practical idea as most of them start work at 8am or 9am.


Security guard Saffri Kamarudin, 45, said it would affect the daily routine of parents and clash with their working hours. This, he said, would lead to parents continuing to send their children to school earlier so that they could go to their office or place of work on time.

“I start work at 8am and I have to send three children to school. If they all have to attend school at 8am, I will still have to send them earlier. This suggestion makes no sense and is not suitable for parents who work,” he said when met at Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan Seri Bidor in Perak.

Clerk Maizurah Idris, 38, agreed with Saffri. If classes were to start later, she said, it would disrupt her schedule. She added that the roads would be even more congested.

“If school starts early, there is time to take care of household chores before I head off to work. I have to send my children early, around 7am, because it coincides with the time I go to the office,” she said.

However, housewife Faridah Abdullah, 36, of Shah Alam, welcomed the suggestion of starting classes at 8am.

“As a housewife, I have no problem with classes starting later as there will be more time for me to prepare food and do my chores before sending my children to school,” she said.


The chairman of the parent-teacher association (PTA) of SK Cheras, Ahmad Hasni Mohamed Jalilah, believed that starting classes later than 7.30am would have a negative effect.

“If school starts at 8am and ends at 1pm, the existing 40 minutes for each lesson will have to be cut short. Teachers will feel pressured to finish the syllabus and there is a possibility that some students may be left behind,” he told FMT.

Nor Zuwairi Zakwa, the PTA chairman of SK Bandar Tasik Kesuma in Selangor, said the suggestion would only benefit parents who worked from home.

Recently, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) senior lecturer Anuar Ahmad urged the government to start classes at 8am in Peninsular Malaysia to ease the burden on teachers, parents and students.

He said the government should be compassionate to teachers, parents and students who had to wake up as early as 4.30am. At present, most schools start at 7.30am.

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