Financial Cost For Protecting Instructional Time: A Pilot Study of Primary and Secondary Schools in Malaysia

Abstract

The education sector is truly a labor-intensive industry. A large chunk of the financial cost for managing this industry is the workforce, that is, salaries for the teachers.  The absenteeism of teachers, whether due to absence from the school or occupied with other duties, causes a disruption in the teaching and learning process.  Classroom productivity is affected because instruction cannot take place and this will give rise to the students to experience an adverse economic impact.  This financial loss to students can be estimated based on the salaries received by teachers.  Two schools, a primary and a secondary school, are used for the pilot study.  This case study involved 112 teachers from a primary school and 75 teachers from a high school in Kuala Lumpur. Data collected, over a period of one year, include attendance records, teacher movement records and medical appointment letters. On average, teachers who were absent from school or the classroom comprised10% of the school year. 50% of the teacher absenteeism was due to personal reasons, and 50% was due to work duties. The financiallossto students due to teacher absenteeism is estimated to be equal to that of the teacher’s average monthly salary. The total costs to both schools were calculated to be more than half a million Malaysian Ringgit for an academic year of schooling.  This amount is enough to pay the annual salaries of almost seven teachers for each school.  Instructional time lost needs to be prevented as this means high financial costs and an adverse impact on student learning.  It also indicates the inefficient use and management of economic resources.  However, the findings based on one case study alone are insufficient tojustify for an immediate change in the education policies.  Further in-depth study involving more samples and more comprehensive research needs to be carried out to obtain a better picture.