It was reported in May that parents of some children in a school in Hulu Selangor were furious that no action has been taken against a teacher who was allegedly caught molesting at least nine students for months despite the parents’ complaints to the district education department.
That’s why I raised this question in Parliament and the answer I received from the Education Minister on 26 October shows that the primary school teacher has been transferred to another school.
2 weeks ago, Deputy Education Minister P Kamalanathan in reply to me said at Dewan Raykat that a school headmaster in Sandakan who was found uploading videos with pornographic content in a WhatsApp chat group has been transferred to another school.
I do not understand the rationale behind these decisions. Someone unfit to be a headmaster / teacher in school A, is also unfit to be a headmaster / teacher in school B. If I were a parent from where the headmaster / teacher is transferred to, I will feel insulted and worried for my children.
Yes, everyone is innocent until proven guilty. But as a precautionary measure, isn’t it better to put the teacher in a district or state education office pending investigation? Why expose the other kids to unnecessary and avoidable risk?
Children are by nature vulnerable to those more powerful than they are. Shouldn’t we just disallow the teacher, who was allegedly caught molesting 9 students, to have any contact with other children?
A total of 15 reports of teachers molesting students were made between 2010 and October this year. However I believe this is only a tip of the iceberg.
How many of these teachers were charged and sentenced eventually? At the same time, did we provide counseling and proper support session for the children?
School should be a safe place for all children. We do not want another Richard Huckle in Malaysia.