Headline :Parents hail call for views involving NS

Date :29/04/2004
Page :13
Byline :By Syed Umar Arif; R.S. Kamini; Arman Ahmad
Type : News

KUALA LUMPUR, Wed. - Parents, teachers and non-governmental organisations today lauded the Government's move to allow parents' involvement in the planning of future National Service programmes.
They feel that this showed the Government wanted to be transparent in the matter, which will bring about a win-win situation for all concerned.
They were commenting on a statement yesterday by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak that feedback would be obtained from parents of the first batch of trainees, who would complete their three-month training stint on Saturday.
National Union of Teaching Profession secretary-general Lok Yim Pheng said parents could help by getting themselves directly involved in the programme.
Malaysia Youth Council secretary-general Norizan Sharif suggested that all parties concerned should have a sense of ownership for such programmes.
"The post-mortem should not be confined to the management team alone. All parties including the students and trainers should give their feedback on the programme."
Malaysia Xiang Lian Youth Association secretary-general Joseph Wang believed the move would further enhance the effectiveness of the NS as the feedback would allow the Government to formulate future measures to ensure its smooth running.
Several parent-teacher associations agreed that constructive views from parents would further improve the programme.
Senior principal and PTA adviser of SM Taman Petaling, Alainal Hasani Md Noor, saw this as a step to improve the NS.
"Parents have only been fed negative stories from NS camps. It is about time for them to give feedback," said Alainal.
A member of the parent-teacher association of SMK Sultan Sulaiman 2, Kemaman, Terengganu, Dr Rajendren Gopalsamy, was confident that the Government would take heed of the parents' suggestions.
Administrator Margaret Edward, 48, whose daughter is a trainee at Universiti Teknologi Mara Shah Alam, agreed that parents should be consulted prior to future NS programmes.
"I believe that the authorities should be more careful in the selection of trainers as some of the current trainers are unprofessional and not duly trained," she said.
A security firm employee, Yunassogaram Supperamaniam, whose daughter is also a NS trainee, said parents could now co-operate with the Government to make the programme a success.
On the other hand, parent Rozita Kamarudin, 43, said it would be difficult to take into consideration all the whims of parents.
"My greatest concern as a parent is probably the safety of my child," she said.
(END)