Kulai MP demands education minister, deputies address period spot check reports

 

Former deputy education minister Teo Nie Ching is demanding that Education Minister Radzi Md Jidin and his deputies take action to address reports that period-shaming is a common practice, particularly in boarding schools.

“Recently, the whole country was startled to find out the information on bullying and sexual harassment that has been happening in our educational institutions - in the name of period spot checks.

“As far as I am concerned, there are no guidelines allowing teachers to do this. So why have these spot checks been happening?” asked Teo (above) in a statement today.

She said it was shocking that to date, the Education Ministry (MOE) has not issued any statement on this.

"And what shocked us is one senior minister with two deputies (Muslimin Yahaya and Mah Hang Soon), all males, seemed insensitive and could not be bothered by this horrific incident,” she said.

Today, Malaysiakini reported that girls in multiple schools had to undergo “period spot checks” where they are told to physically prove they are on their period through means which violate privacy.

This is according to current students and those who left school up to 20 years ago.

The measures include showing their blood-soaked sanitary pads, doing swabs of their vagina with either cotton buds, tissues, or their fingers, or having a teacher, warden or school prefect pat them down at the groin to feel if they are wearing a sanitary pad, they said.

Over a dozen individuals reached out to Malaysiakini in less than 24 hours after a call for stories was made. They recalled how the behaviour towards menstruation at boarding schools was “shameful” but was accepted as “normal practice”.

Teo said the situation demanded a response from the ministry.

“Even the Penang mufti has spoken out, condemning the action. So, what is MOE’s stand on this?

“When will the minister and his deputies finally find their voice to look after our students, especially female students? Their silence is deafening. Is it because they are indifferent?” asked Teo, who is also Kulai MP.

Uproar

Penang mufti Wan Salim Wan Mohd Noor had told Malaysiakini that no one should embarrass another by checking the private parts of the individual for any reason because everyone has self-dignity that must be respected by others, including the right to cover the private parts of their body from being seen by others.

“Islam strictly forbids its followers from looking at other people’s aurat, even on the pretext of performing the required duties such as to prevent a female student from making excuses to abandon the obligation of prayer,” Wan Salim had said.

The practice was also condemned in a joint statement by the All Women’s Action Society (Awam), Sisters In Islam (SIS) and Pertubuhan Pembangunan Kendiri Wanita dan Gadis (Women:Girls).

The president of the Association of Islamic Doctors of Malaysia, Dr Ahmad Shukri Ismail, also said he saw the act of checking private parts to prevent students from skipping prayers as excessive.

Dr Harlina Halizah Siraj, professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Medical Education (Clinical Teaching) with the Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, said such actions encroach on women’s privacy and she does not see why it has to be done this way.

“As an obstetrician and gynaecologist, I believe a young woman should not have to prove that she is having her (menses). You should take a woman’s word for it,” Harlina told Malaysiakini.

And Fadhlina Sidek, head of legal and community development of Wanita PKR, said she objects strongly to period-shaming.

“The act of groping girls to make sure whether they are menstruating or not is sexual harassment, while the act of asking them to show their bloody pads as evidence of menstruation is a crime of bullying, degradation, and disturbs the emotions of girls,” Fadhlina said.

School should be a place of safety

Teo said a school should be a safe place to educate children academically and instil values and show them about love and humanity.

“Instead we are humiliating our kids because we cannot trust them right in the school compounds, the irony. Our children need guidance and leadership, not to be constantly second-guessed by us.

“They need us to make them feel safe and, most importantly, for them to be able to speak to us without being judged,” she said.

“How can these kids trust us when the adults violate the boundaries?

“Guidance and leadership do not mean engaging in power struggles to prove our rightness and put down their arguments. It does not mean humiliating and crossing the lines - making them feel miserable and ashamed,” added Teo. - Mkini