Education Ministry expresses condolences over student's death

The Education Ministry has expressed sympathy, sadness and condolences to the family of a Form Two student of SMK Methodist, Nibong Tebal, Penang who died following a suicide attempt after being accused of stealing her teacher’s cellphone.

Its minister Mahdzir Khalid said the incident should not have taken place and the ministry left it to the police to investigate.

“We are very sympathetic and express our condolences to her family. I think we should allow a full investigation to be conducted before we act,” he told reporters at the 2018 Estate Run programme at the D’Belimbing Homestay in Kuala Nerang today.

In the meantime, Mahdzir said the teacher concerned had been transferred to the District Education Department while waiting for a full investigation to be carried out by the police and State Education Department.

On Feb 1, the student, M Vasanthapiriya, died after a seven-day coma following an attempt to commit suicide by hanging herself in a room in her house after being accused of stealing a cellphone belonging to her teacher on Jan 24.

Meanwhile, Mahdzir said there must be improvements and adaptations of psychology from time to time to boost the knowledge (of psychology) among teachers.

“Psychology is already available and applied at the university level or at the Malaysian Institute of Teacher Education but we can look at it from the aspect of reform and improvement so that these teachers better understand how to deal with students in such a situation,” he said.

- Bernama