Smart School: Issues and Challenges.

Through the globalization era today, a transformation development has been introduced
by the Ministry Of Education which intended to produce the technological educational citizens.
Whereby they will also be a creative thinking person and are able to prepare themselves to face
the economic current in the 21st century.

During the year of 1999, Multimedia Super Corridor has introduced 90 Smart Schools all
over the country and they are also known as the nucleus schools or the pioneer in the one of
the seven projects held by the MSC. By 2010, there would be 10,000 primary and secondary
Smart Schools all over Malaysia.

Malaysian Smart Schools has been innovatively created in a systematic way to adapt
the new ways of education system. Many new things to be done and more new world to be
explore. The management must be parallel to cater the needs of the children’s development
which was called as the “Information Age”.

Talking about producing the well-balanced intellectual, spiritual, harmony, physics and
other important aspects for the citizens, the stakeholders’ roles are very much important.
Guideline and support of those involved teams not only could attract pupils’ attention to learn
through these smart ways but also to enhance their ability and potential towards a better and
higher level and facing the global challenges in Vision 2020.

One of the most important stakeholders are the teachers. Teachers are scattered all
over the country, form the urban to the rural areas. All of them are there, working days and
nights with only one intentions; to convey the knowledge and to see the nation move forward.
Teachers are the middle agents between the knowledge and the pupils especially during the
application of the software in the Smart Schools. Those who have the wider knowledge in ICT
application in the Smart School should have delivered the lesson in the smarter, attractive and
effective ways. The latest technology application which is conveyed by the teachers perhaps
could motivates the pupils to learn the new ways of education system more practical.

The Principal is responsible to manage the deals that related to the Smart Schools
information systems to the general cooperation and collaboration between the members in the
school. The effectiveness and the accuracy of this management system could be enhanced
and tighten among the members through the technology application. For example, the Principal
held a competition whereby all the staffs have to take part to create a new school batch using
the computer. The most creative and innovative creation will be the winner.

Other than that, the officers in the Ministry Of Education, the state level and the district
level have been struggled to make sure that Smart Schools are successfully done in the whole
states. They also played their own important roles in planning, managing, observing and
evaluating the effectiveness of this MSC projects.

Parents also encouraged to take part in their children’s lesson thrugh their involvement
in the Parents’ Teacher Association. They are needed by the children as well as they needed
the teachers. They could help the self learning of the young learners by providing a personal
computer at home. For those who cannot afford it, the still can help by morally support their
kids going through the lessons. By hook or by crook, the parents must be responsible to
observe their children’s development and gives motivation, guidance and family counsel for their
happiness in the future.

During the newly hot and sensational sophisticated era of education, many newly hot
positions are existed n the schools for those supporting staffs. For examples, the Coordinator of
Media & Technology. In the meanwhile, other staffs are required to learn how they could handle
the new ways of technology in the challenging global education.

While talking a bit about the roles of the stakeholders, the problems are frequently
happened in the Smart School as well as being reported to the Ministry Of Education Officers
and other state or district officers who make site-visits to certain Smart Schools. Problems
being occurred mostly among the teachers, Principals, students, parents and a bit with the other
parties who involved in the Smart Schools programe.

Among the problems are problems to come out with the information about main power
breakdown and lack of man power to repair it at a brisk pace. So that, the repairing process
takes time and it is absolutely distracting the teaching & learning process and wasting the
learners’ precious limited hours. The computers provided are not sufficient to provide a better
learning process for the children and this condition becomes worse when the computer system
breaks down.

Besides, the courseware implementation are not so frequently used in the lesson
especially for those who are facing great examination. Most teachers say that it is better to drill
the children directly to the exam questions rather than wasting time with the exposures to the
courseware.

Some say that the content of the courseware is not managed to fulfill the interest and the
children’s development. It is too short and simple for adoption with the syllabus skills required in
the Huraian Sukatan Pelajaran (HSP). The teachers are lack of ICT knowledge and it makes
them not quite interested in delivering the methods of teaching and learning using the
courseware provided.

The teachers say that the in house training given by the course attended teacher seldom
gives the real situation for them to apply it during the teaching learning process. Their
understanding on what being happened is depended to the knowledge of the course attended
teacher. Lack of understanding on what is going to be done next will effect the other related
teacher in delivering Smart Schools principals.There are lack of continuous training to the newly
transferred teachers on how to teach in the new ways correctly. So, in whatsoever conditions,
they need more continuously effective training.

Sometimes, there are also the Principals who claims that they know how to manage 16
out of 31 the Smart School Management System but the site visits found out that actually they
are only can manage a few of these 16 items.

In the meanwhile, the parents and the students are not aware about the smart teaching
and learning lesson at their schools. This might happened because the parents and their
children are not given the exposure about the smart lessons in their schools.

Thus, generally, something must be done to overcome the problems which have been
facing by the various stakeholders as been stated above. Generally, the changes in education
system will cause the changes in cultural and life in Malaysia. It turns the memorization based
education to the creative self learning, breaking hot ideas, conceptualization and others which
could fulfill the patterns of self indivduals development and interest.

As a teacher, through the delivering concept of Smart Schools way, the curriculum must
be meaningful, multicultural, effective, reflective, holistic, global and absolutely technological. It
must be done in that way to ensure that the students move forwarded and parallel to their
interests, needs and ability.
 Beside that, the Smart School pedagogy stressed the teaching learning process that
focuses towards an attractive lesson, students centre, building basic skills for a greater teaching
learning process. Teachers also must be able to choose and adapt the appropriate methods
and make sure that the skills could be mastered although there are many kinds of learning
patterns.

Through the management, the Principal is responsible to replace all human recourses
who are able to handle a meaningful programme while saving the long term costs. Other than
that, he can improve the decision quality using the direct links to the information systems. To
manage the quality of the trained teachers, the Principal can apply to give the attended course
to those teachers that he thinks are reliable to the others.

Last but not least, I recommended that a team of man power to provided in each district
to prevent the problems that usually occur during the delivering lesson. No such time wasting
along and students can learn more what they supposed to get during the school hours.