Zakaria Kasa, who heads the Education and Human Development Cluster of the National Professors Council, said parents must understand that ineffective homeschooling could be detrimental to their children’s development.
“Homeschooling is one of the alternatives to conventional schools and there are many factors which parents must consider before opting for it,” he told FMT.
Zakaria said many parents chose homeschooling because of the weaknesses of conventional schools, especially their overcrowding.
However, he added, students in conventional schools would have a better chance of becoming all-rounders through participation in extracurricular activities.
“Furthermore, children at conventional schools will have a greater opportunity to mix with other children and learn to appreciate team work and acquire other social skills through the various school activities.”
He said parents of homeschooled children must assess their development by benchmarking it against existing standards. “Ideally, it should meet existing standards or exceed them.”
Zakaria also had advice for parents who send their children to conventional schools. He said they must supplement their children’s education at home. “Parents should not treat schools as day-care centres,” he quipped.
According to the Home School Legal Defence Association, an international advocacy group, homeschooling in Malaysia is not illegal. It says on its website that the Education Act makes primary education compulsory for all Malaysian children but allows for conditional exemptions from the education ministry.