NEGLIGENT, WEAK AND INDISCIPLINE TEACHERS SHOULD BE EXCLUDED FROM TIME-BASED PROMOTION - PM ANWAR

BANGI, July 13 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said teachers who are negligent, indiscipline and perform poorly 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 don't go to school many times in a year, I want to cancel it (time-based). So we have to be careful, but I believe 90 per cent 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, Director-General of Public Service (KPPA)  Datuk Seri Wan Ahmad Dahlan Abdul Aziz, Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari and the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) president Aminuddin Awang.

Anwar said when he was the Minister of Education in the past, the teachers were blamed because children took drugs, did not study well and were not smart but they accepted it because it was part of their responsibility.

He said the teacher's job is to educate people so that there is an element of humanity in each of them, as such each student 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 (UM). 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, if not instilled with that spirit," he said.

Therefore, Anwar 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.

Anwar urged his detractors not to dispute his commitment in matters on bahasa Kebangsaaan as the official language and in the national education policy.

However, he said there is no obstacle to the development of Chinese, Tamil, Arabic or other languages ​​and space should be given.

Anwar said that in order 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 Ministry of Education, is not to 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 the Malay language, mastery and quality which should be better now because of the capability of our children," he said.

On the Public Service Remuneration System (SSPA), 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 .

-- BERNAMA