KUALA LUMPUR: The inaccessible internet link provided by the Education Ministry for students to download the science textbook chapters in the Dual Language Programme (DLP) is bound to disrupt their preparations for the PT3 exams, parents said.
Checks by the New Straits Times found that the link at http://sasbadisb.com.download-centre/textbook leads to an error each time it is clicked on.
This was the link provided in the press release by the ministry yesterday when announcing the delay in issuance of textbooks for science and maths in DLP.
Parents for Action Group for Education Malaysia (PAGE) is concerned that this would impact the teaching and learning of students facing the PT3 exams this year.
The group’s honorary secretary Tunku Munawirah Putra lamented that the ministry should have thought things out properly from the very beginning as the Form 3 students this year will be facing PT3.
“This (issuing of Science textbooks to March) cannot wait until March. It has to have been planned out from the very beginning.
“(The ministry) should have been better prepared. All this issues facing the distribution of books and also the inaccessible link would make teachers more pressured in trying to prepare their students,” she said.
Tunku Munawirah said the latest issue further highlights the importance for the ministry to work out a mechanism whereby all teachers and schools have access to an online digital library of textbooks for every subject.
She noted that this would also contribute to the digitalization of education which would boost teaching and learning in schools.
“However, this is easier said than done,” she said.
Some parents when contacted said that they could access to the e-text books using an alternative link
“I can access the textbooks using this link http://sasbadisb.com/download-centre/textbook/dual-language-programme-dl....
“My son told me that he will only get the textbooks by March, which means he only has six-months to absorb before the PT3 in September. It will be tough,” a woman, who refused to be named, said.
The National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) secretary-general Harry Tan Huat Hock appealed to the ministry to look in this matter urgently.
“Address the shortcomings so that this issue does not stress the teachers, students and parents.
“This is not the first time happening since the introduction of DLP, over the years the teachers always do their best but we need more support from the Textbook division,” he told the New Straits Times.