International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Publications ISSN (Online): 2581-6187 20 Luiza Ann Kumarsir, and Parilah Mohd Shah, “Teachers Motivation towards Teaching in Rural Indigenous Schools,” International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Publications (IJMRAP), Volume 3, Issue 5, pp. 20-29, 2020. Teachers Motivation towards Teaching in Rural Indigenous Schools Luiza Ann Kumarsir, Parilah Mohd Shah 1 Faculty of Education, National University of Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia-43600 2 Faculty of Education, National University of Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia-43600 Email address: luizaann91 @ gmail.com Abstract— Teacher’s motivation plays a vital role in the success of teaching and learning process. Teachers who is teaching in the rural indigenous schools face several challenges as compared to the schools in urban area especially on the school conditions and the socio-economic conditions. Therefore, this study investigates on the teacher’s motivation towards teaching in indigenous school in rural region of Hulu Perak district, Perak. This quantitative research design employed 100 teachers who work in the 4 indigenous schools located in the rural areas of Hulu Perak. The data was collected through survey questionnaire, a Google Form that consist of 3 sections; demographic details, motivation and teaching. Overall, the finding indicated that the respondents were motivated to teach regardless of the challenges they face in the rural indigenous school. In spite of the demand of extra time and energy, teacher’s motivation have encourage teacher to be determine in teaching the rural indigenous school as they have high interest, attitude and motivation in the teaching profession. Keywords— Motivation, Rural Area, Indigenous School, Teacher Motivation, Teaching. I. INTRODUCTION Malaysia is known as a country with multi-ethnic population and unique geographical environment which consist of peninsular (West Malaysia) and the island of Borneo (East Malaysia). The indigenous community in Malaysia is mainly divided by the native tribe who lives in Peninsular Malaysia, and the other tribes in Sabah and Sarawak. According to International Work Group of indigenous Affairs (2018), there are about 11.8% of indigenous people in Malaysia. A large of chunk of the indigenous people live in or close to forest, with about 60% of them living in the forest-fringe or rural areas in the country, while 30% live in the forest interiors. It is also mentioned that only about 1% of the indigenous community lives in settlements or areas close to urban regions. This is challenging as it needed efforts to reform schools especially the indigenous school which located in the rural region. Osman Rani Hassan & Rajah Rasiah (2011) mentioned that schools in rural region provide education to pupils who are vulnerable because of family background, poverty, and lack of guardians, lack of nutrition and lack of high educational attainment within families. Norwaliza Abdul Wahab & Ramlee Mustapha (2015) stated that in the effort of ensuring nobody left behind, Orang Asli Education Transformation Program under the Education development Plan from 2013 to 2015 was introduced to boost the quality of education of Orang Asli pupils with an effort to provide a complete education landscape in their settlements. This continuous effort in developing the indigenous people have been taken by the Malaysian government since independence 1957. Teachers from the Teacher Training Colleges (IPG) are usually placed at the rural region in the indigenous settlement as their first posting. Teacher who are posted at the indigenous school plays a vital role in educating the indigenous community and quality of the education. However, indigenous schools in rural regions often have problem with teacher shortages Hudson, P.B. and Hudson, S.M. (2008). Sharifah Md Nor, Samsilah Roslan, Kamaruddin Hj.Abu Hassan, Mohammad Azhar Mat Ali & Jaimah Abdul Manaf (2011), reported on the positive attitudes of teacher in village school despite the dire state of the school in terms of physical structure and facilities, and the poor working conditions of the teachers. Additionally, the Malaysian Ministry of Education (MOE) and Teacher Training Colleges (IPG) saw the real need to enhance the professionalism of teachers in the indigenous schools which located in rural region (Sharifah Md Nor, et al., 2011). Zahratulhayat Mat Arif (2018) reported in the New Straits Times that due to the socio-economic factors and lack of awareness on the important of education are the main factors that contribute to high dropout cases in rural school. It is clear that teachers who is teaching in rural indigenous school face several challenges as compared to the urban schools especially on the school conditions and the socio-economic conditions. Teachers are demand to be aware of the socioeconomic environments of the pupils that they are going to teach and work. Therefore, motivation is essential in teachers to perform in the rural indigenous school in long run. There were motivated teachers in rural schools where life is was generally more challenging and where many teachers did not want to be posted (Tanaka, C. 2010). In this fast paced world, Malaysia Education System do emphasis on the quality of education which in line with the UNESCOS‟s Education for All (EFA) goals and that teachers have been the center of attention ( UNESCO, 2014). The goal of achieving quality of education for all, the education for rural children is one of the main focuses of the Malaysian National Education Master Plan 2006-2010 (Sharifah Md Nor, et al., 2011). However, there is not enough study on teacher‟s motivation towards teaching in rural especially in indigenous schools in Malaysia. Hence, the following section discusses the motivation of teacher towards teaching in rural indigenous schools. The present study aims to understand the motivation of teachers who teach in indigenous school at rural area. A teacher who is motivated either in teaching or extrinsically can