BANGI – Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said teachers who perform poorly and are negligent and undisciplined should be excluded from the time-based promotion privilege.
He said even though the government accepted the principle of promotion on time-based, it would revoke the facility for teachers who were negligent and had poor discipline.
“If the discipline (of teachers) is weak, if they are absent from school many times in a year, I want to cancel (the time-based promotion).
“We have to be careful, but I believe 90% of them have no problem,” he said when speaking at the Golden Jubilee celebration of National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP), here today.
Also present were Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek, Public Service director-general Datuk Seri Wan Ahmad Dahlan Abdul Aziz, Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari and NUTP president Aminuddin Awang.
Anwar said when he was education minister, teachers were blamed when students took drugs, did not study well, and failed academically – but they accepted it because it was part of their responsibility.
He said the teacher’s job is to educate so that there is an element of humanity in each student, as such each of them must have love and affection for the teacher.
“I am grateful to Sekolah Cheruk Tok Kun, Bukit Mertajam Boys School, Malay College Kuala Kangsar and Universiti Malaya.
“I have never forgotten the contribution of teachers because without them, other than my parents, it would not be possible for me to gain a foothold in my career,” he said.
Therefore, the prime minister said the welfare of teachers should be protected and at the same time changes should be made.
“Malaysia has the ability and capacity to raise the dignity of the nation and the country – to be a good model economically, politically, socially and educationally because the basic strength is there.
“If you want to improve, you can’t do it with a sluggish culture like now, you have to be firm,” he said.
Additionally, Anwar urged his detractors against disputing his commitment in matters on Bahasa Malaysia as the official language and in the national education policy.
However, he said there is no obstacle in developing Chinese, Tamil, Arabic or other languages, and stated that space should be given.
Anwar said that to boost the country’s economy, there is a need to place special emphasis on the mastery of the English language in the country towards digital transformation and artificial intelligence (AI).
“My instructions to the Education Ministry is to not delay as there is a need for an immediate framework for the level of English proficiency so that the country can compete.
“At the same time, let’s not belittle Bahasa Malaysia. Mastery and quality which should be better now because of our children’s capabilities,” he said.
On the Public Service Remuneration System, he said the scheme is “one of the best ever” announced by the government and hopes it would improve the services of civil servants and stop bad practices.
Anwar said that although the plan received criticism from various quarters, it did not interfere with the government’s commitment to implement it considering that civil servants had not experienced a salary revision for 12 years.
Anwar said two NUTP proposals will be brought up for discussion involving assistant teachers in primary schools grade DG48 being allowed to hold positions as senior assistants and operations in primary schools including head teachers who have been promoted to grade DG52 on a time-based basis being allowed to hold that position until grade DG54 . – July 13, 2024