LETTER | MOHE turning over new leaf - a devoir to students

LETTER | For the past 18 months, our country has been on a difficult and reflective journey to move away from the pandemic's darkness and towards the light that awaits us ahead. 

We, the students, felt the hardships, and words are insufficient to express the voices of students who have endured a great deal during the pandemic. 

However, in light of the appointment of the new governing boards of the Higher Education Ministry (MOHE), IIUM Student Union hopes that the minister and deputy minister will lead the ministry excellently and bring solutions to the current problems that most students face, particularly with regard to online learning. We believe that this might be a chance for redemption.

It is worth noting that MOHE in the past had made several mistakes that greatly affected the wellbeing of the students. 

MOHE, for example, previously issued a guideline that was unclear and inconsistent. As a result, many students were perplexed, and this perplexity must be avoided. 

Furthermore, MOHE has appeared to be rather slow and inefficient in making decisions while it is a well-known fact that decision making is extremely crucial during times of crisis as it affects many stakeholders. 

Additionally, it seems that MOHE did not necessarily reflect the solutions proposed by students as there were many student movements that came out with ideas on how to solve and recover from the arising issues but the solutions apparently were left in the dust without any further action taken. 

It would be preferable if the ministry could consider all of the solutions for the betterment of students.

With these flaws, IIUM Student Union believes that MOHE must move forward with new efforts to resolve student issues and problems. 

We strongly believe that the ministry must ensure that decisions and policies are better, vivid, and, most importantly, expeditious. 

Furthermore, it is our utmost hope for MOHE to be empathetic and aware of students' problems at all times. 

MOHE must keep focusing on current problems and come up with good solutions, rather than coming up with initiatives that are rather insufficient and lacking to be considered as ministerial standards. 

MOHE must take into account the fact that students are being left behind as a result of the pandemic, and immediate action must be taken because these students are our nation's asset and future. 

IIUM Student Union also urges MOHE to look into and consider all of the student-suggested solutions posted by student movements, unions, and other student representative bodies. 

IIUM Student Union believes that these students are always keen to support and that the students are often more aware of their situation. 

Accordingly, it is preferable to include students' perspectives in developing the best solution to the problems.

As the major stakeholders of higher education, we will keep a close eye on the progress of MOHE to ensure that the same failure would not occur again. It is exhausting for us students to go through these over and over again. 

Thus, we are willing to work together in order to maximise the effort towards a better learning experience. We have demonstrated our volunteerism to commit before but yet the follow-up remains a mystery. 

We had urged for at least a simple follow-up but were met with profound silence. This is indeed vain as if the MOHE has not realised that it is obvious that they have made mistakes, prompting students to raise their voices.

Therefore, we would like to emphasise once again that students are exhausted from being unwillingly included in political drama by the politicians. 

We urge MOHE to stay focused on their portfolio and prove that they are no longer the same person who led the cause of mental breakdowns and all sorts of hardships faced by the students along this Remote Teaching and Learning (RTL) process. 

We put our hopes high on you to keep consistent in delivering the best for our education.

We have had enough, policymakers. We demand improvements.

“For the students, by the students.” 

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.