STU POSTING

Ghani: MOE must provide guidelines to non-teaching or support staff

Posted on May 1, 2011, Sunday

SIBU: Sarawak Teachers' Union (STU) has called on the Ministry of Education (MOE) to provide guidance to non-academic staff in schools as they are dealing with students.

 
 

Its president William Ghani Bina said this would make them better aware of the dos and don'ts to avoid taking matters into their own hands.

He was referring to a case involving a primary one pupil at SK Sungai Buloh, Selangau, who alleged that a Teaching Assistant there had mistreated him.

"There is a pressing need for MOE to provide guidance to non-teaching or support staff in schools since they are also directly dealing with the children.

"Knowing the procedures and guidelines better, they will be able to restraint and avoid taking matters into their own hands," he told thesundaypost when contacted yesterday.

The pupil, Bomay Edwin, was reported to have spilled the beans to his grandmother Engut Jampong, 64, alleging that he was caned by a 'kakak' in school.

The 'kakak', a Teaching Assistant, was alleged to have punished the boy for stealing another pupil's T-shirt.

The boy also claimed that the assistant knocked his head with some objects.

To this, Ghani added: "STU deeply regrets such an incident has happened. There are means and ways to discipline pupils in school. There are proper guidelines and procedures that must be strictly adhered to."

He explained that only those teachers with a written approval from principals or headmasters could carry out caning.

The written approval, he said, is normally given on a year-to-year basis and according to the guidelines, a student could be caned not more than three times a day.

"In school, we cane to educate students to make them aware of their mistakes and guide them towards the correct path. But in prison, caning is done to punish," he clarified.

He felt that the assistant should not have taken the matter into his own hands.

This was because Primary 1, being pupils' first year at school, would make them afraid of going to school if they were punished.

He figured some pupils were already dragging their feet in attending school and meting out punishment would give them even more reasons not to go to school.

"What is more important is to make schooling attractive and appealing to young children," he pointed out.

Ghani thus hoped that the parents of the child would give opportunity for the assistant to correct herself.

To the assistant, he advised: "Never, never, ever repeat that kind of action again."

Ghani stressed that a key criteria to become a teacher is that one must love and be comfortable with children.

Former educationist Dr Johnny Kieh urged the relevant authority to mete out exemplary action against the assistant.

He warned that the assistant should not be left off the hook, as it would 'motivate' others to copy her act.

"School is an institution to acquire knowledge and there are proper rules and regulations. In the first place, she did not have the authority to mete out any form of punishment," he grimaced.

He opined that the assistant should have brought the matter to the headmaster or disciplinary teacher instead of meting out the punishment herself.

"Being too emotional or impulsive can land one into a heap of trouble," he cautioned.

Dr Johnny did not discount the possibility of the child suffering from psychological fear, following the incident, which can affect his thinking and future.