By Syahirah Nawawi
GOMBAK, 2 September 2021: Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) has been urged to consider various proposals put forward by the movement and student unions in resolving education issues that have arisen sequel to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This has been brought upon by the IIUM Student Union (IIUMSU) in their social media statement on Tuesday (31 August), which was prompted by the incessant pandemic that has begun to spread in Malaysia since January 2020; thus, the statement said “the blunder of lectures having to be conducted online”.
The statement highlighted a series of problems arose, including the feasibility of the practical processes in class lectures, which usually plays a role for students to translate theoretical learning into practice in the field.
“Realising the fact that students are among the most affected groups on this issue, they have already submitted too many suggestions, but unfortunately, are silent without any feedback.
“If given space for discussion, we are confident that the student movement and union are ready to extend cooperation to the MOHE leadership.
“Along with the re-appointment of the Minister, students as stakeholders will continue to examine the achievements of the MOHE to ensure that the same failures that occurred before will not be repeated.
“What happened should be a lesson and together we should pioneer the current of change,” said a statement.
As a sign of cooperation, the IIUM Student Union said it sent an open letter to MOHE.
Nevertheless, the union has so far not received any response from the Ministry.
Prior to this, a student group who called themselves “We Unite For Islam” (WUFI) was among the many which shared the same sentiment towards MOHE in regards to considering what is best for students made through social media statements and open proposals.
In their social media statement, they have also called out MOHE’s weakness in handling student welfare which they claimed has brought more hardships than ease.
“Once again, we would like to emphasise that students are tired of having to be dragged into a daily political drama,” the statement by IIUM Student Union added. ”***