THE Education Ministry is to regulate the homework assignments of school pupils to make it more interesting. Since this aspect of Malaysian education has long needed an overhaul, the bold new direction holds good promise if taken in the right spirit.
Overall, homework in Malaysian schools should have more quality than quantity. It needs a finer focus with less bulk,and in the process become more interesting to the pupils to give an added incentive to studying harder.
Young people have energy, imagination and a natural curiousity that can help them learn if properly channelled. Otherwise, their effusiveness can become a regrettable hindrance to the learning process - which in turn becomes a burden and a necessary evil to them.
Pupils need to know that learning is part of their own life experience, not something separate and removed from it. Teachers should therefore avoid dishing out homework mechanically as routine chores, which would make studies boring and brain-deadening.
Homework that is interesting to pupils would not only make their learning more meaningful and productive, but also facilitate teaching. When schoolchildren are better motivated in their studies, teachers also find their task easier.
