Education ministry to consider reducing service period for teacher transfers

 

The National Union of the Teaching Profession had submitted a proposal to the education ministry to reduce the period of service required for teachers to qualify for transfers.

PETALING JAYA: 

The education ministry will consider a request to reduce the three-year service requirement for teachers to qualify for transfers, says minister Fadhlina Sidek.

In a Bernama report, Fadhlina said her ministry continuously evaluates proposals aimed at improving teachers’ welfare.

“The proposal by the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) aligns with what we are implementing in policies and strategies, specifically regarding this issue,” she said.

She was speaking to reporters after a groundbreaking ceremony for a national primary school and a Chinese national-type primary school in Gamuda Cove, Dengkil.

Earlier today, NUTP secretary-general Fouzi Singon said the union had submitted a proposal to the ministry to reduce the years of service required for teachers to qualify for transfers.

NUTP’s proposal comes following the case of teacher Izzuddin Izhar, or Cikgu Din, who had sought a transfer from Sarawak back to the peninsula to be with his wife, who was battling stage four cancer.

Izzuddin, who was posted to SJK(C) Ming Wok in Kanowit, was reportedly travelling to Kota Bharu every two weeks to be with his wife.

While he had made several applications for a transfer when her situation worsened, they were rejected as transfers could only be granted to those who had served for three years.

A Facebook post about his plight caught Fadhlina’s attention, and the education ministry eventually approved a temporary transfer for Izzuddin to be posted to a school in Kota Bharu in October so that he could be near his wife.

His wife died on Monday. - FMT