Orang Asli parents thrown into a bureaucratic jungle

VOXPOP 'They are asked to lodge a report on their complaint so that the ministry can investigate the matter. This must be the pinnacle of bureaucracy.'

'Dept knows about truancy of SK Bihai teachers'

Anonymous#007: It is the job of the Education Ministry to know what is happening at its schools. Its task is to ensure the education guidelines are properly implemented at all schools.

Now that its been informed - twice - of the teachers' truancy, it should punish the teachers. It should demand for the return of monies equal to the number of days they were intentionally absent.

And they should be sacked - after all, we do have 7,000 unemployed teaching graduates who can fill the vacancies.

And for persecuting the students for being faithful to their own religions, these teachers should be sent to jail for violating the constitution. These will send a clear message to the rakyat on the BN regime's stand on these issues.

Lamborghini: Deputy Education Minister Mohd Puad Zarkashi, you and your officers are all "sleeping on the job" or closing one eye to such misconduct of the teachers.

How is it that after more than two months, when the issue of the teachers' truancy was highlighted at a public dialogue with your district education officer in the presence of a Suhakam commissioner, you can still profess ignorance?

What is the use of another official complaint when the issue has been highlighted to your own officers? Do you think the Orang Asli have nothing better to do than to keep on travelling/walking miles to make one complaint after another?

You and your ministry officers must be more pro-active and sensitive and sensible, especially when dealing with the poor and uneducated who have very limited access to transport facilities and who will normally have to face a bureaucratic jungle before they can even meet a junior officer in their air-conditioned officers in the city.

Laila: The Orang Asli parents are asked to lodge a report on their complaint so that the ministry can investigate the matter. This must be the pinnacle of bureaucracy.

If true, then these teachers lack respect for their profession and lack a desire to help the Orang Asli secure a better future. Imagine a company where employees play truant on two working days every week, but still receive full salary.

Fair Deal: This is common in rural schools in Sarawak and Sabah. I once worked in the Jabatan Pendidikan Bahagian in Sarawak. Whenever we visited the rural schools on Friday or Monday morning, most of them were closed.

When we reported this to the pegawai pelajaran daerah (PPD), no action was taken except a general reminder to the GB (headmasters) during the monthly meeting that the teachers cannot go back until Friday afternoon and cannot come late on Monday.

That is the quality of PPDs heading the Jabatan. No wonder, we often see zero percent pass in many rural schools.

RA 1: SK Bihai cannot even be found on Google maps. It must be so remote that even handphones do not have service. Thus it is an exceptional case. It would be a hardship post for most teachers.

Not Confused: Two months, and nothing has been done. The entire Education Department should be fired without notice.

They obviously don't give a damn about the education of the Orang Asli. It's a national disgrace - someone must pay the price! - Malaysiakini