I highly support the call of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam in the recent National Day titah to integrate conventional and religious schools.
At present, it is tiring for parents to carry out school runs as religious schooling has varied timetables. Imagine having a few of children finishing school at different times. It will surely affect your commitment to work.
My daughter recently told me that some of her friends don’t even clean their school uniforms, opting to reuse it day after day, as parents often rush from one school to the next to pick up their children, leaving them with little time for other house chores such as laundry.
Quite often, I come across children changing their uniforms at restaurants before attending religious school in the afternoon. It is testament to the amount of stress both the children and their parents face, juggling between two different schools and dealing with two sets of homeworks and other school assignments.
Should the authorities go ahead with the integration, it would be good to see them follow the system of schools that are already offering both conventional and religious education under one roof.
I do hope to see such integration come to fruition soon as I suspect there are many parents who are in the same boat sharing my sentiments.
Knackered Parent
