KES GURU PONTENG SEKOLAH - UGUTAN BUNUH, TAYAR DIKELAR, KETUA JABATAN COVER UP DAN MACAM-MACAM. WALLAHU A'LAM

 One of the amazing issues arising from this case was that the Ministry of Education so stringently defended this case.

My two sons, my wife and I have personal experience with this problem in our school system. Please read my comments at the end.  Click here for original article

• school system’s least acknowledged issues
• teacher absenteeism highlighted in court case in Kota Kinabalu
• 3 students won court case against headmaster, DG Education, Minister, gomen
• teacher absent from class for seven months 
• corruption, nepotism within school system exposed during trial
• former education director cover up by backdating attendance
  
• death threats against fellow teacher 
• car tyres slashed in retaliation against whistleblowing
• amazingly Ministry stringently defended this case.
• case opens up major problem, cover up in school system
• teacher absenteeism far more widespread 
• Teacher absenteeism major factor in student underperformance 
• particularly in poor rural areas across Malaysia.   
• Extent of the problem
• Teacher absenteeism cases not  reported for 14 years
• 19.5% school principals reported teacher absenteeism
• problem remains unreported due to cover ups, falsifying records, nepotism 
• 2010-2017, 55.4% disciplinary cases involved teacher absence from duty.
• What are the major consequences?
• students at great disadvantage
• happen more in poor rural settings
• Teacher absenteeism contributes to cycle of poverty.
• Teacher absenteeism perpetuates poverty in rural familes.
• A poor refection upon the teaching profession
• Teachers low motivation levels, not suitable, undertake other earning activities
• Nothing done about the problem
• Teacher absenteeism has been kept secret 
• school management culture is one of cover up
• staff problems kept ‘inhouse’
• much more than teacher absenteeism covered up. 
• includes theft, rape, and molestation.
• Teacher absenteeism major impediment on education standards
• affects standard of education
• Originally published in FMT 12th September 2023.

My Comments :

Our sons went to the same primary school in the 1990s and the same  sekolah menengah kebangsaan into the 2000s. Their secondary school was a premier school in Kuala Lumpur. (Named after that British Queen). And we immediately saw this problem of teacher absenteeism even then in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

When the boys came home after school and we checked their lessons and homework for the day they would frequently say 'The teacher did not come to class today'.  This began to happen very frequently.

So one day we spoke to some other parents of our sons' classmates who shared the same concerns - why are the teacher's frequently absent from class.

Upon digging further we heard stories like 'cikgu pergi kursus'. Why would the school want to send teachers away on courses in the middle of the school year? Why not do it over the school holidays?

And frequently there was no replacement teacher. Replacement teachers were ad hoc - sometimes there were replacements and at other times there were no replacements.

The other reason was 'teacher delivered baby and is away on maternity'.  This happened frequently as well.

Then there was also the 'cikgu pergi umrah' but less frequently.

These were not the only reasons for all the absenteeism.

We then asked to meet the school principle and a group of us parents spoke to the school head and his assistant. They could not deny the teacher absenteeism and they could not fully explain it either. Instead they spoke of the school's other achievements which to me were exceptions and also not of any great significance. The school band, the scouts etc. What about completing the syllabus and teaching the kids their lessons?

When I was in school (1967 to 1979) we had no problems with teacher absenteeism. There was never a day that I recall where a teacher did not come to class. And I attended FIVE different schools.

So why is this such a huge problem for the past 30 - 40 years? And reading about this case in Sabah (where students successfully sued the school and the Ministry of Education for teacher absenteeism)  it is obvious this problem is now of pandemic proportions.

There are about 2,440 government secondary schools and about 7,800 primary schools in Malaysia.

This makes the problem very easy to manage. This is actually a management issue.

During the time of Abdullah Badawi there were those town-halls on this and that (all of which were a waste of money and came to nothing - quite obviously). I was invited to at least two town halls (including one "expert opinion" group) to discuss education matters.

We discussed that an effective and easy way to improve the schools was to focus on the 2400+ school principles or pengetua sekolah. These 2400+ people (secondary schools) could really determine the entire secondary school education system. We need champions and gold medallists to be the school principles.  And we should fully empower them with authority and responsibility to do their job well. And of course there must be a big stick as well. Perform or perish. Deliver or get sent out.

Teacher absenteeism has to be zero. If maternity, attending kursus and umrah/haji are accounted for months ahead then there is more time for replacement teachers to be assigned. No such thing as 'teacher did not come to class today'.

Nonsensical behaviours by teachers like doing business during school hours or doing business in school must be strictly punished. Those are offences - plain and simple. If there is "corruption" send them to jail.

So it is the responsibility of the school principle to run a tight school.

And learn to fire people, including teachers and school principles. If bad apples are regularly fired, demoted (or transferred out of the teaching profession)  that will cause a significant change in attitudes. 

The people, especially our school children will benefit.

There is no need to ask for additional budgets to solve this serious problem. Just do your jobs.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.