Govt not appealing ‘ponteng’ teacher court ruling

The government and four others are not appealing a Kota Kinabalu High Court verdict that awarded RM150,000 to three students over an incident where their former English teacher skipped classes (ponteng).

In a statement today, Calvina Angayung - one of the three students who initiated the legal action - revealed that the five defendants have not filed their appeal within the 30-day period for any such appeal. The civil court ruling by judge Leonard David Shim was on July 18.

“The court also gave the defendants a month to file an appeal to the Court (of Appeal). However, they failed to do so.

“I regard this as them no longer have a point to go against the decision of the court. This proves that the (legal) victory is very strong,” she said.

The High Court ruled in favour of Calvina and the other two plaintiffs - Rusiah Sabdarin and Nur Natasha Allisya Hamali - whose lawsuit targeted the government and four other defendants - former teacher Mohd Jainal Jamran, SMK Taun Gusi principal Suid Hanapi, the director-general of education, and the education minister.

In his judgment, Shim ruled that the five defendants in the case had violated the three students’ constitutional rights to access education.

He also ruled that the five defendants had breached their statutory duty under the Education Act 1966 in failing to prepare the three students for examinations.

The judge declared that the second defendant - Suid - had breached his duties under Regulations 3C, 25 and 26 of the Public Officers (Conduct and Discipline) Regulations 1993.

Given this, the judge awarded RM50,000 to each of the three students to be borne jointly and severally by the five defendants.

Of that amount, RM30,000 was awarded as nominal damage for the loss of opportunity the three students suffered.

"It is undisputed that English is a core subject for SPM and enrolment into any higher level of education or university.

"The court finds that an award of nominal damages to each plaintiff in the sum of RM30,000 (was) for the loss of opportunity to obtain good grades in English and loss of a good opportunity in their lives to receive better education in the future," Shim said.

Constitutional right

The remaining RM20,000 was awarded as an aggravated cost because of the emotional and/or psychological trauma caused by the hurt and humiliation due to the teacher's absenteeism.

No order was made on costs because the matter involved questions of the fundamental constitutional right to education and issues of public interest, the judge added.

Rusiah, Nur Natasha, and Calvina filed the civil suit in December 2020. They accused Jainal of being absent, arriving late, and leaving early from class for seven months between March and October 2017.

Jainal is also the subject of a similar suit filed by Siti Nafirah Siman, which is still being heard. - Mkini