Experts urge holistic measures, warn teacher workload threatens mental health and classroom quality

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 8 — The issue of teacher workload needs to be addressed holistically and continuously through strengthening the scope of work and providing a sustainable support system to ensure that the mental and physical well-being of educators continues to be maintained.

In this regard, measures to streamline administrative tasks, increase teaching staff and provide a sustainable support system are critical to ensure that the physical and mental well-being of the group does not continue to be neglected.

Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Educational Sciences and Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Dr Mohammad Faiz Ikhlas said teacher workload does exist and is due, among other things, to filling in too much data, an unstable online data entry system, student discipline issues and assignment instructions outside of working hours.

He said the pressure to achieve school performance targets often forces teachers to ‘steal’ breaks until late at night, thus affecting the quality of their personal and family lives.

“Some teachers experience emotional stress, fear, and some even experience fatigue or burnout. It also directly affects the quality of their teaching and personal lives,” he told Bernama.

Mohammad Faiz said that among other factors contributing to stress are external tasks such as training students for competitions on weekends, in addition to financial constraints that force teachers to find their own funds to ensure school participation.

Commenting on the recent incident involving the death of a teacher, he suggested that the issue of workload be given serious attention and praised the move by the Ministry of Education (MOE) to limit school opening meetings to a maximum of two days starting from the 2026 session.

He said other initiatives such as the appointment of examination invigilators from among the public, the abolition of low-impact events and the granting of autonomy in Classroom Assessment (PBD) were the right steps to reduce the burden on this group.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Faiz said efforts to reduce teachers’ load must be accompanied by concrete and long-term measures, including expanding the appointment of teaching assistants based on school needs and increasing the recruitment of new teachers to fill vacancies.

Meanwhile, deputy director of the Malaysian Inclusive Development and Advancement Institute (MINDA), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Dr Anuar Ahmad stressed that it is time for the Ministry of Education to gazette the scope of teachers’ duties clearly according to position and grade.

“It is time for the Ministry of Education to gazette what the scope of a teacher’s duties actually is so that teachers are clear about the scope of their duties,” he said.

Anuar said that reducing the workload also needs to be implemented in stages, including reducing the number of students in classes, increasing teacher staff and providing a more efficient support system in schools.

He said that clarifying the scope of teachers’ duties is not only important for educators, but also needs to be understood by schools, District Education Offices (PPDs), parents and the community so that teachers can return to focusing on teaching and learning and interacting with students.

“If teachers are burdened with non-teaching duties, they are burdened and teachers’ well-being will also be affected, and the end result will be on our students,” he said. — Bernama