A witness testifying in the lawsuit by students against a teacher who was allegedly truant for months said he is speaking up to ensure other students will not face the same issue.
Mohd Fadzley Izzani Lamsin, a former student of SMK Taun Gusi in Kota Belud, Sabah, said he also hopes the case would bring awareness on how such a “simple issue” can have a grave impact on students.
“I hope (the first defendant, English teacher) Mr JJ (Mohd Jainal Jamran) and other defendants would get the appropriate punishments for their irresponsibility so that the generations to come won’t become victims of this again, like what I went through.
“I also hope that citizens of Malaysia will open their eyes to issues regarding teachers not entering class.
“Even though it looks like a simple issue, the impact of such actions are very grave,” he said when testifying in the High Court in Kota Kinabalu today.
He said this when asked by judge Leonard David Shim if he had any other statements to make.
Judge commends the witness
In response, Shim commended Fadzley, now 21, for the “great statement”.
Fadzley was the classmate of plaintiffs Rusiah Sabdarin, Nur Natasha Allisya Hamali and Calvina Angayung, who filed a suit against English teacher Jainal for being absent, arriving late and leaving early from class for seven months from March to October 2017.
The plaintiffs were at the time Form Four students at the school located in Kota Belud, Sabah.
Other defendants named in the case are school principal Suid Hanapi, the Education Ministry director-general, the education minister and the government of Malaysia.
The plaintiffs 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.
They 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.
This is the second lawsuit filed by students against the same defendants, with the first filed by former SMK Taun Gusi student Siti Nafirah Siman on the same issue in 2018.
Student secretly recorded complaint
Meanwhile, Fadzley testified that he had gone to the teacher’s office to ask him to enter class, and had also complained to the Art teacher and Bahasa Malaysia teacher over the English teacher’s repeated absence.
As the situation did not improve, he said he complained to the headmaster in November 2017, and secretly recorded the conversation. The recordings were played in court yesterday.
The witness also testified that he failed the English subject because of Jainal’s truancy.
However, federal counsel Fazriel Fardiansyah Abdul Kadir suggested this is untrue because Fadzley had also failed Economics and Mathematics, despite the teachers showing up to teach.
Fadzley disagreed with this suggestion and said he would have performed better if the English teacher had attended class and provided guidance.
The plaintiffs were self-represented at the hearing because their counsel had discharged themselves and the plaintiffs were still in the midst of appointing a new counsel, who will act pro bono.
Yesterday, the judge decided against an adjournment because the dates were set well in advance and multiple adjournments had been given before this.
As such, plaintiff Rusiah testified without counsel and was guided by the court.
“You are self-represented so I am giving you a lot of chances to convince me. So don’t be afraid,” the judge told her.
Rusiah testified that complaints to other teachers and the headmaster were not useful, as the students were told to just leave it be.
She also testified that she received Band 3, which is a passing grade, in the Malaysian University English Test (Muet) in the Form 6 STPM examination.
She said the defendant was not her English teacher for Form 5 and Form 6.
She said her Form 5 English teacher never failed to attend class to teach while the Form 6 English teacher coached her to speak the language.
She said when the first defendant was missing from class, she found him in his office, but Jainal told her to go to physical education instead.
“Because of (the first defendant’s truancy) we did not receive proper education in Form 4,” she said.
‘Lame excuse’
In the cross-examination, senior federal counsel Mohd Hafizi Abdul Halim asked Rusiah why she failed in Mathematics and Bahasa Malaysia even though the teachers for the subjects had attended classes to teach as usual.
She said it was because she was under stress and could not focus.
She also disagreed with Mohd Hafiz, who suggested she was only using Jainal’s absence from teaching English as a “lame excuse” for failing the subject.
The senior federal counsel also honed in on whether the students had permission to record conversations they had with the teachers to complain about Jainal’s absence, and whether they were permitted to bring recording devices to school. - Mkini
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