Disclaimer: In Real Life is a platform for everyday people to share their experiences and voices. All articles are personal stories and do not necessarily echo In Real Life’s sentiments.
Adult Malaysians feel a lot of nostalgia about the Kemahiran Hidup (KH) projects we used to do in class. From woodworking to soldering, and cooking to sewing, we were taught a few skills that we didn’t appreciate at the time – but do now.
However, in 2017, KH was replaced with Reka Bentuk dan Teknologi (RBT), a subject that focuses on design and the use of the latest technology. Due to the move away from teaching life skills, RBTi is not a proper replacement for KH and instead a whole new subject on its own.
Malaysians do feel that KH should be brought back as it teaches skills that are relevant to daily life, but also that KH should be updated to more adequately prepare school students for adulthood.
These are some of the skills that have been suggested to be taught:
1. Filing taxes
Definitely the most confusing part of adulthood once you reach a certain income level, many Malaysians are reluctant to employ an accountant or bookkeeper to help with this because they are additional expenses.
Megan is so ignorant about the process that she has never filed her taxes. “I don’t know what to do,” she said, “and at this point I’m afraid to ask.”
Amrul had a similar problem. He had not paid his taxes in years because he also didn’t know how. Fortunately, he became acquainted with someone who was more than willing to help him out by guiding him on each step. Now he does his taxes by himself every year.
As for myself, I can’t even say much about filing taxes because I never had to do it and I don’t know how to!
2. Cooking and sewing – but for all genders
Raju recalls his KH days in school. “I got to build stuff and do some electrical work,” he told me. “But we were separated by gender, and the girls got to do sewing.”
It seems ridiculous that projects were taught based on your gender. Everyone needs to learn how to cook and sew – it’s not like men have a convenient woman around all the time to cook for them and repair their clothes.
Arguably, learning how to cook and sew is more broadly applicable and relevant to daily life than learning about woodworking and soldering electric circuits.
Allowing every student to learn all these life skills will also help to modernise traditional gender roles and perceptions of certain activities being suitable for certain genders.
3. Financial literacy
Those of us who had to study prinsip perakaunan in KH will remember learning how to use buku tunai and buku ledger in class and how to balance accounts.
Unfortunately, for those of us who went on to not study accounts, this knowledge was too specific to be useful for us.
What would be more practical would be teaching students about financial literacy. This would include tips on how to draw up a budget, managing debt, and the basics of investment.
Many Malaysians live paycheck to paycheck, and would benefit from the advantages of being financially literate. Especially when you consider how many Malaysians go into debt, whether it be due to a house loan, car loan, or PTPTN loan.
5. Managing mental health
As mental health becomes a growing concern in Malaysia, it would be great for students to learn about common mental health disorders, their symptoms and how mental health can be managed.
This will help greatly in destigmatising mental health and facilitating honest conversations about it. Teachers can also open up a little on personal experiences with anxiety or depression and so on, leading to better relationships between teachers and students. It will also teach students that like physical health, mental health is an important consideration.
Students can be taught coping mechanisms and basic grounding techniques, which are very practical skills that they will bring with them into adulthood.
Teaching about different mental health conditions will also make students more empathetic and understanding towards their fellow schoolmates, which will help them grow into good adults that Malaysians can be proud of.
5. Social skills
Nicholas has a degree in psychology and believes that students will benefit from learning social skills in school.
“They can learn about communication, how to read the room, and how to handle difficult people and situations,” he mused.
Arvin agreed with Nicholas, suggesting that the module on social skills could be incorporated in bahasa and English.
Additionally, students can be taught about healthy boundaries and how to say no, and even how to recognise abusive or toxic relationships.
The whole point of these skills is to encourage the growth of Malaysians who are capable, well-rounded and confident in adult life.
Too many of us enter adulthood with no idea of what’s going on or what to do, and a class that focuses on easing that transition to adulthood would really benefit school age students, especially those who do not have someone to teach them these skills.
In many ways, school prepares students for tertiary education, but more thought should be given to practical skills that are not based on academic merit.
These skills are lifelong lessons that go beyond concerns such as the number of As you received for your SPM.
We should ensure that schools are places where students receive not just an education that is academic, but also one that is practical.
For more stories like this, read: 5 Crucial Life Skills Malaysian Schools Refused To Teach Us and If You Still Struggle To ‘Adult’ At 26, Here’s What You Can Do.
More from Real Skills
How I Saved Almost RM50,000 On Buying My First Car
Here's how this Malaysian man with a RM3,500 salary saved RM50,000 on his first car.
Angry M’sian Boss Demands Unpaid Overtime Over Raya, Causes 9 Staff To Quit
An anonymous employee at a local SME shares how a bad-tempered boss eventually caused 9 staff to quit before Hari …
I Studied In Chinese School As A Malay Boy, Here’s What I Learnt
Every time I used Mandarin outside of school, family members would come up to me at gatherings and ask me …
