The Education Ministry's one-off mass recruitment drive of teachers should not aim to only address unemployment among teaching graduates, said the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP).
Its president Aminuddin Awang, who welcomed Education Minister Mohd Radzi Md Jidin's announcement today of aiming to hire 18,702 teachers, said focus should be given to ensure quality and interests of individuals to be recruited next month for placement in schools beginning October.
"We need people who want to be real educators and not those who just want to do it as a job.
"NUTP hopes this one-off programme is not only to address the problem of unemployment among education graduates.
"More importantly, it should be a serious step by the government to address the problem of teacher shortage through recruitment of teachers who are both qualified and interested," Aminuddin told Malaysiakini.
He also described the move as unexpected and much-awaited to address the overall shortage, as well as in certain subject options.
Radzi in his announcement earlier attributed the shortage to both a lower number of graduates from teacher's training colleges, as well as a "mismatch" between their chosen subject option and requirements in schools.
The minister said certain subjects continue to produce more graduates while there were not enough trained to teach other subjects at the primary or secondary level.
As part of the solution, Radzi said the ministry through the Education Services Commission, with approval from the Public Service Department, will look to expand the candidate pool beyond those with an education background at the degree or diploma level.
'Expanded recruit pool regrettable'
Educationist Anuar Ahmad said the long-standing shortage was due to the ministry's own failure at managing its human resources and projecting demand for teachers.
The lecturer at UKM's Education Faculty also said it was regrettable that the ministry is considering recruiting non-education graduates to fill vacancies for certain subjects.
"I use the analogy - can we take graduates from other fields to become doctors, lawyers or engineers? Why is this allowed in the education profession?
"Isn't this an unprofessional move that would affect the quality of our education system?" he said in a statement.
"This has reached the level of a private tuition class and no longer reflect a government school institution," he added.
Rather than opening recruitment for non-education graduates, Anuar said the ministry should instruct teacher's training colleges and education faculties to increase intake for the particular subject in need of teachers.
Overall, he said the one-off recruitment could also have a long-term impact on upcoming education graduates who could face more difficulties to find placements in schools. - Mkini
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