Sabah teacher sued for 'ponteng' also leaked exam papers - witnesses

 

The secondary school teacher who is being sued by students for skipping class for seven months did not teach but leaked examination questions instead.

These were the testimonies of the first two plaintiff witnesses, who were classmates at SK Taun Gusi in Kota Belud, Sabah in 2017.

The case filed in December 2020 finally went to trial at the Kota Kinabalu High Court before judge Leonard David Shim today.

Plaintiffs Rusiah Sabdarin, Nur Natasha Allisya Hamali, and Calvina Angayung filed a suit against English teacher Mohd Jainal Jamran for being absent, arriving late, and leaving early from class for seven months between March to October 2017.

Jainal was attached to SMK Taun Gusi in Kota Belud where the plaintiffs were students.

Now aged 22, the plaintiffs were at the time students of class 4 Sains Sukan (4SS).

Calvina was a head prefect, Nur Natasha Allisya was a school prefect, and Rusiah was a class monitor.

Secret recorded conversation with teacher

Other defendants named in the case are school principal Suid Hanapi, the Education Ministry director-general, the education minister, and the government of Malaysia.

They are seeking a court declaration that all five defendants are in breach of their statutory duty under the Education Act 1996 to ensure the three plaintiffs were taught English during the nine-month period in 2017, as well as to prepare the plaintiffs for their examinations.

The plaintiffs are also seeking a declaration that all five defendants violated the trio’s fundamental right of access to education enshrined under Article 5 read with Article 12 of the Federal Constitution.

They are claiming exemplary, general, and aggravated damages, costs, and any further relief deemed fit by the court.

Among others, the case was delayed after the teacher and the other defendants allegedly did not file their statements of defence, despite multiple mention dates scheduled.

The first witness to testify was the plaintiffs’ classmate Nurul Afirah Zainal Abidin, who said students complained about Jainal's absence to various teachers, including their class teacher, before finally confronting Jainal.

Nurul Afirah said they secretly recorded the conversation with Jainal as proof they complained about the matter.

‘Poor results despite leaked question’

In cross-examination, senior federal counsel Mohd Hafizi Abdul Halim put it to Nurul Afirah that she earlier said the teacher was absent for three instead of seven months, and the inconsistencies show she is lying.

He also said the fact that she cannot remember the exact dates the complaints were made shows she did not actually complain.

He also asserted that she had a grudge against the defendant and broke school rules by bringing a camera to the school to record the complaint.

Nurul Afirah disagreed with these assertions.

The senior federal counsel also pointed out that the witness' marks for English - the subject taught by the defendant - were higher than her marks for mathematics, even though Nurul Afirah testified the mathematics teacher was never absent.

To this, she replied the defendant leaked the exam questions to his students, while the mathematics teacher did not.

Similar questions were asked of another classmate, second plaintiff witness Suriana Mohammad Salleh, who also testified the teacher was absent from class for seven months in 2017.

She added her English subject marks were still poor although the defendant leaked the exam questions because he “never taught us how to answer the question or the English examination format”.

The case was adjourned to Sept 23, after Suriana was released from the witness stand.

Second case

This case is actually the second against the same defendants.

In 2018, Siti Nafisah Saiman, then 18, filed a lawsuit after Jainal was absent from class for seven months.

Siti Nafisah, who was from Form 4 Perdagangan, attended a different class from the three plaintiffs in the other case but said the same teacher was also absent from English lessons in her class.

In her lawsuit, she also claimed the principal told Jainal to fake his signature to show the teacher had attended class.

Siti Nafisah's case is scheduled to be heard on Sept 12 to 15 at the Kota Kinabalu High Court. - Mkini