Student who sued teacher for 7-month absenteeism gets day in court this May

The student who sued her English teacher for allegedly failing to turn up for classes for seven months will finally get her day in court this May.

Nafirah Siman (photo, centre), who is 20 years old now, initiated the lawsuit against Jainal Jamran in Oct 2018.

She alleged that Jainal did not turn up to teach English classes in 2015 when she was in Form 4 at SMK Taun Gasi, a school in Kota Belud, Sabah.

The High Court in Kota Kinabalu had in December set trial dates for May 4 to May 6, as well as on May 8.

"Nafirah is confident and enthusiastic for the High Court trial to commence, where she will prove her stated allegations against these seven defendants and their multiple officers in a court of law," a recent statement from her representatives said.

The final pre-trial case management will be held on Jan 21.

Prior to this, Nafirah had scored a number of smaller victories, when seven out of eight defendants named in her suit failed to strike out their names in September.

The only defendant that succeeded to be struck out was the school itself.

Besides Jainal, the other defendants are the school's principal at the time, the Kota Belud district education officer, the Sabah State Education Department director, director-general of Education Ministry, Education Minister, and the Government of Malaysia.

Nafirah's legal team had also in July succeeded in their applications for discovery and further and better particulars, through which she has received documents that were not voluntarily submitted by the defence.

In their statement of defence from Dec 2018, the defendants denied the allegation that Jainal had been missing from classes as alleged by Nafirah.

"Furthermore, the attendance record of the first defendant (Jainal) to work in the said school for the year 2015 was very satisfactory.

"The first defendant was also on certain days had to perform his official works outside the school in which he was permitted and allowed to go.

“For the period as alleged by the plaintiff, it was also recorded that the first defendant had entered and was present in the 4PD class as he was assigned to teach the English subject," the statement read.

After news first broke about the lawsuit, then-education minister Maszlee Malik had sent an officer to investigate the matter after being unsatisfied with an initial report he received.

“I received the report but it is still under investigation. I myself have sent an officer to go to the ground to meet the family and understand what really happened,” he was quoted as saying in Nov 2018.

However, when contacted in December last year, the Education Ministry declined to comment further on the case as it was court matter.

This is not the first time SMK Taun Gusi had been in the news.

Previously in 2013, a mother filed a police report and urged action from the Sabah Education Department for allegedly failing to bring her then 14-year-old son to the police station or hospital after he was assaulted by a group of students.

Masdah Tabulung claimed that school administrators instead caned her son. - Mkini