924 school heads to get RM7,500 each for excellence

PUTRAJAYA: A total of 924 school heads have been shortlisted to receive cash incentives promised under the Government Transformation Programme (GTP).
Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the school heads would be rewarded for having raised the performance of their schools beyond expectations.
Each will receive RM7,500.
“Additionally, 5% of the top teachers from these schools will receive RM1,800, while the remaining teachers will receive RM900 each.
“We initally projected that 2% of school heads would exceed the targets set last year, but 12% of them have proven to be exceptional.
“The final list of school heads and teachers who will receive this ‘New Deal’ will be made by the middle of this year, maybe after the SPM examination results are announced,” Muhyiddin, who is Education Minister, said in his New Year address to his staff here.
He added that a 14-member committee has been appointed to review the History syllabus for schools.
“The committee is made up of history experts, academics and representatives from various organisations.
“We want to engage the relevant stakeholders in improving the syllabus, so that students will learn about other civilisations,” he told reporters after the event.
Muhyiddin announced last year that History would be a “must-pass” subject in the SPM examinations from 2013, which drew sharp responses from certain quarters who claim the existing textbooks on the subject offer an “imbalanced” account of the country’s past.

TheStar, Thursday February 10, 2011

 

‘New Deals’ incentives for head teachers

 KUALA LUMPUR: Under the GTP’s Education NKRA, the “New Deals” initiative has been designed to reward school principals and head teachers based on the performances of their schools. Teachers that qualify would also receive financial rewards.
Under the New Deals, school heads are given performance contracts that will ensure transparency in school performance, where each principal or headmaster would know how their schools fare when compared with other schools.
All schools are ranked into seven school bands based on composite scores of the school’s average score (GPS) and its self-assessment – the Standard Quality Education in Malaysia (SQEM).
Band 1 signifies the top-performing schools while Band 7 is the lowest-performing schools.
Primary schools that score at least 84% and secondary schools that score at least 92% will be rewarded.
Schools that make the most significant improvement in their scores would also be rewarded.
Eligible school heads as well as the teachers in the respective schools would receive monetary and non-monetary rewards.
Underperforming school heads would be sent for a performance management programme at Institut Aminuddin Baki and also be involved in coaching and mentoring sessions under the School Improvement Programme (SIP)

TheStar, Monday January 31, 2011