Graduates from non-teaching backgrounds to receive training to overcome teacher shortage

 

Education Minister Datuk Dr Mohd Radzi Md Jidin.

PETALING JAYA: Graduates from non-teaching backgrounds will be given training if selected for the special one-off initiative to address teacher shortages.

Education Minister Datuk Dr Mohd Radzi Md Jidin said graduates from Institute of Teacher Education Malaysia are trained in the field of education, along with public university education graduates.

"However, if teachers from these backgrounds cannot fill the positions available to address teacher shortage issues, we will provide training if we take in graduates who aren't education graduates.

"Otherwise, how will they accustom themselves to the education field?

"Therefore, we will ensure this group – if they are recruited – will be provided sufficient training to ensure they conduct teaching and learning effectively," he said during a virtual press conference on Tuesday (June 22).

Mohd Radzi said the one-off initiative is a structured process which has gone through in-depth research.

The initiative will see the recruitment of 18, 702 teachers in four states that are facing teacher shortages.

Applications for the special recruitment of grade DG41 education service officers will be opened from July 7 to enable these teachers to be placed in schools in stages starting October.

He had previously said the states in dire need of teachers are Sarawak, Sabah, Selangor and Johor.

Schools will be able to reopen as planned in the third phase of the National Recovery Plan (NRP) as more people get vaccinated.

Mohd Radzi also said the ministry was confident that the country can move to the third phase of the NRP as planned.

"We expect we can move on to the third phase by September but that... is subject to meeting all three thresholds.

"We managed to open schools last year and this year, and the standard operating procedures (SOP) we used were quite effective.

"We saw this in the (low number) of cases or clusters involving students," he said.

Mohd Radzi added the ministry has several approaches and strategies in the pipeline to improve SOPs when schools reopen. - Star