Govt must intervene to stop teachers quitting early, says Tok Mat

 

The National Union of the Teaching Profession says more than 10,000 teachers have been submitting their papers annually for early retirement over the last few years.

PETALING JAYA: Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan says government intervention is needed to prevent an educational crisis with more teachers opting to retire early.

He agreed that the number of those retiring early, as projected by the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP), was worrying.

This comes after NUTP secretary-general Wang Heng Suan estimated that more than 10,000 have been submitting their papers annually for early retirement over the last few years.

This is in addition to an equal number of teachers leaving the service on mandatory retirement.

In a statement today, Mohamad noted that the figures given by the union far exceeded those revealed by the education ministry on optional retirement.

He said the ministry received a total of 4,360 optional retirement applications as of November last year.

“If the estimation made by NUTP is true, then the early retirement trend is worrying. The ministry should clarify this issue,” he said.

Mohamad, who is better known as Tok Mat, said the Covid-19 pandemic may have contributed to this trend, as well as the increasing non-teaching responsibilities taking a toll on the teachers.

He urged the government to intervene to prevent the country from losing experienced teachers.

“If this continues, it will affect the quality of our education system,” he added. - FMT