Teachers must learn from court case involving absence of teacher from school - Hajiji

KOTA KINABALU - Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor reminded all teachers in Sabah to learn a lesson from a case in point whereby a teacher from a school in Kota Belud was taken to court by students for failing to show up for class over a seven-month period.

The Chief Minister who was certainly disappointed with the case hoped such an issue would not recur in future so as to ensure every student in the state received quality education from teachers.

"What is important is to provide knowledge and education to children in schools because education is vital for all. We do not want children to be left behind and loose out on quality education in schools,” he told reporters when presenting Sabah Certificate of Excellence Awards, here today.

On July 19, three former students from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Taun Gusi, Kota Belud won an unprecedented suit against their English language teacher for failing to show up for class for seven months in 2017.

High Court judge Leonard David Shim made the decision in favour of the three former students - Rusiah Sabdarin, Nur Natasha Allisya Hamali and Calvina Angayung - all 22, and awarded RM50,000 each.

The three students had filed the suit against their former teacher and four others for violating their rights to education when they were in Form 4 Sports Science, on Dec 7, 2020 and named their English teacher, Mohd Jainal Jamran, as the first defendant.

Hajiji in his speech urged the Sabah State Education Department to identify reasons for the failure of students from Sabah to sit for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia in 2022.

The Chief Minister said based on reports, only 34,461 SPM students from a registered number of 40,147 sat for the SPM examination in Sabah.

"I am seriously concerned about this issue in Sabah because SPM is a very important exam to determine the future and direction of students when pursuing their studies at higher learning institutions,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sabah Education director Raisin Saidin said dropping out of school and discipline were factors that contributed to the failure of students to sit for the SPM exam last year.

"Apart from the two factors, there were students who had chosen not to sit for the examination, on their own," he told reporters and pledged to take proactive measures to overcome the problem of students not sitting for SPM examination this year. - BERNAMA