The administrative workload of teachers especially in the initial school session should be reduced to give more time for teachers to manage their pupils, said the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) president Kamarozaman Abd Razak.

He said the first month of school could assist teachers to get better acquainted with their pupils especially those starting Year One.

"The first month is the transition period for teachers and pupils to get to know each other but presently teachers are bogged down with keying data and are not even in class.

"NUTP hopes teachers can be spared of their administrative duties in January to give 100 per cent focus on pupils in class," he told a press conference here Saturday.

Earlier, he attended the opening of Melaka branch Wisma NUTP by Perkhidmatan Perguruan Kebangsaan Berhad chairman Abu Bakkar Shawkat Ali.

The Melaka branch Wisma NUTP was built at a cost of about RM2 million and NUTP now owned more than 30 branches nationwide as one-stop centres for teachers.

Therefore, Kamarozaman said NUTP was appealing to the Education Ministry for teachers to carry out their administrative duties such as data entry at the end of January.

He said NUTP also wanted the state education departments throughout the country not to implement their online system which could result in redundant work for teachers.

"Based on a circular, the system implementation needed the prior approval of the ministry," he said.

In this regard, he said various initiatives and approaches needed to be comprehensively formulated to raise the quality of the education system in the country to produce a more knowledgeable generation. -- Bernama