A Research On The Current Status, Problems And Counter Measures Of The Implementation Of Classic Class At Pay Fong Middle School,Malacca,Malaysia

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, and the Salamanca Statement of 1994 have both raised two important principles of education-to fully develop students’ unique characteristics, and students have inherent differences in learning. Hence, educators must envisage and respect these differences, and modify the education model. Students with learning disadvantages should be enrolled to ordinary schools for education. Over the years, educational thoughts and concepts have changed, and there are new trends of education around the world. To promote education equality, standardized education system has been replaced by adaptive and personalized education system.The Malaysian Chinese education started in 1819 following the founding of Ng Fook Thong Temple in Penang. However the development of Chinese education in the country does not always run smoothly. In addition to laws and policies enacted by the British colonial government, and regulations set by the Japanese military government during Japanese Occupation, the war destruction and new education act passed by the new government after Malaya gained its independence had threatened and impacted the survival and development of Chinese education in the country.After Malaysia’s independence in 1957, some leaders of the Chinese community had refused the government’s proposal to assimilate Chinese schools into the National School system and chose to become the Malaysian Chinese Independent Secondary Schools. These schools are kept alive almost exclusively by donations from the Chinese community and uphold the No Child Left Behind or Education for All as their educational philosophy. While the Chinese Independent Secondary Schools constantly face government’s pressure from both education policy and funding aspects, the board of directors of each school has undertaken responsibility to provide a better learning environment for Chinese students. Under the No Child Left Behind and Individualized Teaching education concept, some Chinese Independent Secondary Schools started to offer adaptive education for students with learning disadvantages by providing them remedial instructions.Despite the efforts to ameliorate the learning environment for students with learning disadvantages, there is a paucity of research about special education administered in Chinese Independent Secondary Schools. Thereby, this study aims to complement the administration of special education in Chinese Independent Secondary Schools on the grounds of remedial instructions for students with special needs so that there will be more educational resources deployed in the attempt to assist the students.This research is based on the study on special education termed Classic Class administered in Pay Fong Middle School, Malacca. Interviews with school authority, teachers involved in guiding Classic Class, parents and students have been conducted to understand current status, and the dilemmas encountered along the process. The shortcomings derived from the implementation of this program are identified as incompetency of teachers in special education field, insufficient pedagogical support channeled by school authority, scarcity of relevant curriculum and learning materials, and monotonous instructional assessment. Respective resolutions in terms of professionalism, administrative support, adoption of systematic syllabus and diversification of instructional assessment are suggested in this study to address the weaknesses.