Sarawak teachers back licensing despite veto

By FMT Staff

KUCHING: The Teachers' Union Association for Sabah and Sarawak fully supports a proposal to license the 400,000 teachers in the country despite Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s outright rejection of the idea.
Union joint committee chairman William Ghani Bina said the idea was timely and would further enhance professionalism within the fraternity and contain criminal activities within the profession.
“We fully support the idea because it would turn teaching into a ‘real’ profession, raising its status to that of doctors, lawyers and engineers.
“We also agree with deputy education minister Puad Zarkashi that the move would help curb misbehaviour and prevent teachers with criminal activities from staying in the profession,” Ghani said.
He was commenting on a report in the Borneo Post of an incident in a school in Bungan, near Dalat, where a teacher had allegedly made sexual advances towards five of his pupils. The teacher had allegedly molested some of them.
“What happened is most regrettable. I would like to reiterate that this has nothing to do with the teaching profession. This was a personal issue and a question of lust.”
Puad had recently announced that the ministry was studying a proposal to license the teaching profession.
He said the nearly 400,000 teachers across the country may have to sit for an examination to obtain their licence.
NUTP against licensing
However, Muhyiddin had vetoed Puad’s announcement, saying it was not practical. Several other groups also objected to the proposal, including the National Union of Teaching Profession which said that licensing was costly and not suitable for the Malaysian education system.
Puad had said that the proposal would ensure professionalism in the teaching profession, and weed out bogus teachers or those involved in criminal activities from the profession.
‘It’s a good move. Currently, anybody can become a teacher. Licensing the teaching profession will give it more respectability,” Ghani said.
He said the union, however, rejected the enforcement and imposition of any further assessment tests on teachers.
He said the Diploma in Education was already a requirement for full-time teachers and was sufficient. He also urged for the reinstatement of matriculation classes in Sarawak.
“If we can have them (matriculation classes) in Kuching, it’ll be easier for the local people,” he said, adding that "not everybody can go to Form 6".