Interim teachers left in the lurch after 3 years of service

 

The teachers spent RM5,000 each to do the diploma programme outside their working hours when they joined the service.

PETALING JAYA: About 330 interim teachers, who have been teaching for the last three years as a stop-gap measure to ease the shortage in public schools, have now been told that they are not even fit to be called for an interview for permanent posts.

All because they do not have a Band 5 in the Malaysian University English Test (MUET) despite them having slogged over the last three years to obtain their diploma in education online through government universities due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Of the 400 interim teachers nationwide, only 70 were called for the interview last week. We wanted to sit for the MUET, but only school candidates were allowed because of the pandemic for the last two years,” an interim teacher told FMT.

“They opened it for all only in January this year and it was too late. The next one is only in June and our contracts would have expired by then.

“Most of us have Band 4 in any case besides a teaching degree, the diploma (in education) and our three years as interim teachers. We should be more than qualified.”

She said they had to fork out RM5,000 each to do the diploma programme outside their working hours.

The teacher said they had formed a whatsapp group and were writing an appeal to the education ministry and the Education Service Commission (ESC) to extend their contracts, which were set to expire next month.

She said they were all promised when they started that they would be absorbed into the government service after the contract if they got through the diploma in education

“The least we are asking them is to absorb us permanently on condition that we will acquire the Muet Band 5 or other equivalent qualifications like the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) within two years,” she said.

Recently, about 18,000 teachers were recruited in as one-off intake by the ESC and are expected to report to their schools when school reopens on March 22.

The group, who were hired in 2019 to teach in public schools, were informed by the ESC on Feb 28 that they did not fulfil the requirements to be considered for permanent posts.

The ESC, which acts as the appointing authority for the sector, requires teachers to have either a Band 5 in the MUET or C1 in the CEFR qualification to stand a chance of being appointed permanently.

In January, education minister Radzi Jidin voiced his support for the group after holding a meeting with newly appointed ESC chairman Mazlan Yusoff.

“The discussion involved the interim teachers appointed in 2019, whose contracts expire this April,” he said in a Facebook post. “I requested the ESC to expedite the interview process for this group.”

FMT has contacted the education ministry for comment. - FMT