MALAYSIA - TELEMATCH, card and computer games, field visits and dustbin-painting contest during Moral Education lessons?

Yes, if you are in Kaladevi Arumugam's class.

Nothing is too bizarre as far as the 44-year-old teacher is concerned in making moral classes as lively as possible.

It is not surprising to note then that a random survey of 10 fifth formers at SMK Cheras Jaya, Kuala Lumpur, all taught by Kaladevi (pictured), yielded just one response.

They all enjoy Moral Education classes tremendously. One went on to say that it is the "teacher factor".

In teaching, Kaladevi not only assists students in being academically sound, but also that they are grounded by moral values.

"Moral education does not end with an 'A'. Marks are not a good gauge of a student's expertise in any subject as many often study for exam's sake."

For this reason, Kaladevi adopts a fun and fluid learning environment in and out of the classroom. When students cannot answer her questions, they are let out of the class in search of them. For example, questions on customs would see the students troop hastily into the staff-room to look for teachers of different races for answers.

The students also pay visits to the botanical garden, orphanages, old folks' homes, museums as well as the special education block located within the school itself.

Kaladevi has been teaching the subject for 17 years.

Under her guidance, the school's moral society runs Telematch and Explorace up to the district level, where students from schools from five zones race in gunny sacks, run in teams and pass the ball around -- while answering moral questions.

Kaladevi, one of the country's few guru cemerlang pendidikan moral (excellent moral teachers), strongly disagrees with the widely-held view that Moral Education is useless and unimportant.

The syllabus covers a multitude of relevant and interesting topics -- including the rights of women and children, nature conservation, racial integration, religious freedom, financial planning, Nobel prize winners and even the Official Secrets Act.

"Some people view it as useless because they feel that the subject has no material value, unlike 'important' subjects like accounting and science. But Moral Education is what we need to 'build' the children."

The negative perception, said Kaladevi, stemmed from teachers' inability to teach the subject well and also parents' lack of emphasis on the topic, both of which in turn influenced students to think lowly of the subject.

Although Moral Education requires memorisation, much like History and Science, students do not have to memorise the definition to the values word by word, said Kaladevi, one of the authors of the Form Five Moral Education textbook.

She came up with a method to encourage students, especially weak ones, to remember only five key words out of the whole definition, some of which can run up to 20 words. From the five words, her students would be able to elaborate and get full marks.

"It's not true that the Examination Board wants students to regurgitate everything. When students are marked wrong for writing 'Tuhan' with a lower case 't', the teacher is at fault. It's not the subject or the syllabus' fault. Moral Education is actually flexible."

Parents, said Kaladevi, must be supportive even though moral values should rightly be introduced at home.

The educator hopes the subject would not be scrapped.

"The most wonderful subject to teach is Moral Education. I love the subject so much."