Truant teacher case: 'Signatures in attendance book backdated'

 

An education officer in Sabah today admitted in court that she backdated her signatures in the record book of a teacher who was alleged to have skipped classes often.

Norhana Ijek, who was the English Language Committee head at the time, said in 2015, Mohd Jainal Jamran failed to send his Daily Lesson Plan (RPH) logbook starting in February.

She claimed that Jainal – a teacher at SMK Taun Gusi, Kota Belud – only sent the logbook in August 2015 after being instructed to do so.

After receiving the logbook, Norhana said she then backdated her signatures to confirm that she received the RPH from Jainal every week from February to August.

“My understanding is that he did not send (the logbook) but maybe he did prepare it on certain weeks,” said Norhana, who is now the deputy education officer of the Kota Belud district.

She said this while testifying as the plaintiff’s witness in the lawsuit brought by former student Siti Nafirah Siman against Jainal.

Norhana told the court that she only realised her mistake after Siti Nafirah filed the lawsuit in 2018.

She then proceeded to lodge a report to the Sabah Education Department (JPNS) and admitted that her signatures in Jainal’s RPH logbook from February to August 2015 were a mistake.

Upon the advice of an officer from the JPNS, Norhana was asked to cancel her signatures in the logbook for every week starting from February and replace it with a new signature dated August 2015 as a record of when she received the book from Jainal.

Meanwhile, Norhana also admitted that she went to Siti Nafirah’s house with a school clerk upon instructions of the Sabah Education director at the time to convince the former student to settle the lawsuit out of court.

However, she said she failed to meet with Siti Nafirah.

The education officer also denied that she made any threats.

‘Teachers not monitored’

When questioned by the plaintiff’s lawyer Shireen Sikayun, Norhana acknowledged that she knew Jainal had a problem with attendance and had once lodged a formal report to the SMK Taun Gusi principal about this matter.

“I found that it is the task of the principal and the senior administrative assistant to monitor the presence of subject teachers in class.

“Unfortunately, for as long as I was in that school, there was never any monitoring from the administration,” she said.

Norhana is the second witness to testify in the trial today.

Previously, Awang Erawan, a teacher at SMK Taun Gusi, told the court that the Kota Belud district education office once held a meeting involving Jainal, Ibrahim Jaidol – a Fulbright English language teaching assistant – and another teacher of that school, Nurhaizah Ejab.

However, according to him, the discussion was merely to resolve a conflict among the three and did not state whether there would be another meeting about the absence of the English language teacher.

For the record, the lawsuit against Jainal for not attending classes for seven months in 2015 was filed by Siti Nafirah, represented by her counsel Shireen.

Meanwhile, senior federal counsel Mohd Hafizi Abdul Halim is representing the defendant with the help of federal counsel Fazriel Fardianshah Abdul Kadir.

The trial for this truant teacher case at the Kota Kinabalu High Court today, which was held before Judge Ismail Brahim, will continue tomorrow. - Mkini