Dept explains placement of religious edu teachers
Published on: Thursday, January 29, 2015
Kota Kinabalu: The State Education Department has denied allegations that 49 Jawi, Al-Quran, Arabic and Fardu Ain (JQAF) teachers will be placed in five Chinese-medium schools in Sabah.Its Director Datuk Jame Alip said, in fact, the department would send only four teachers to the schools specified in the report, one in each school and the other school, SJKC Hwa Shiong, Putatan, would not be receiving any JQAF teacher.According to a report in a local Chinese newspaper, former Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Chau Tet Onn alleged that more than 500 Islamic Studies and JQAF teachers will be sent to Chinese-medium schools in the State this year.
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Chau said SJKC Chung Hwa, Kota Kinabalu would receive 17 JQAF teachers, SJKC Chung Hwa, Likas, 14, seven each in SJKC Hwa Shiong, Putatan and SJKC Lok Yuk and four in SJKC Shan Tao."I do not know where Chau got this information but the data was inaccurate and I regret this statement because such report could create negative perceptions by the people towards the department," Jame told a press conference here Wednesday."I urge any individual, NGO and political parties to be careful when producing such statements. If you have any doubt on education matters, my door is always open and you can come and see me."Making rash statements like these would only cause discord among the people." Jame said following the publication of the news, he had been bombarded by phone calls asking him for clarification and confirmation.
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He explained that in terms of teacher placement, the department is always sensitive to the sentiments of the local community and will only send JQAF teachers to schools when the need arises.On Jan. 19 this year, he said, the department received 334 secondary school teachers of whom 69 were Sabahans, one from Labuan while the rest West Malaysians.
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Seventy of these teachers are Islamic Studies teachers and only two have been placed in vernacular schools and four in Mission schools."These teachers are here to replace teachers who have transferred back to their respective states after serving here for a few years."Today, we received a list of names of 344 teachers for primary schools. A majority of them are Sabahans totalling 293 teachers, 37 are West Malaysians, eight Sarawakians and six from the Federal Territories."They are also here to replace teachers who have served our students for a number of years and have gone back to their respective states," he said.He added that on Tuesday, the department received 598 JQAF teachers who would be placed in primary schools across the State.Of these, only 64 are Sabahans while 534 are West Malaysians. A total of 46 JQAF teachers have been placed in Chinese-medium schools while mission schools also received 46 JQAF teachers.JQAF teachers, Jame explained, are those with degrees in religious studies from countries such as Egypt and Jordan."Why only 64 from Sabah? Because we know there are not many Sabahans in this field compared to candidates from the peninsula. There, they have many religious schools, madrasahs and others."They have come here to fill the vacancies including in the vernacular and mission schools," he said.Jame added that one JQAF teacher is needed for every 50 students but the placement of teachers also takes into consideration any requests from the school administration.According to the department's record, there are 606 Muslim pupils in SJKC Chung Hwa Kota Kinabalu."By right, there should be 12 JQAF teachers there but we only provide one JQAF teacher. We take into consideration the sensitivity of the people and that's why the department only sends one there," he said.Meanwhile, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) said it is against any implementation of a quota system for religious subject teachers in Chinese primary schools.Its President Datuk Teo Chee Kang said the party would raise the issue with Deputy Prime Minister cum Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin if it could not be resolved satisfactorily.Commenting on Chau's claim that the Education Ministry has transferred 500 religious teachers (JQAF-Jawi, al-Quran, Arabic and Fardhu Ain) from West Malaysia to Sabah and that most of them would be teaching in Chinese primary schools, Teo said Datuk William Chu, who heads the LDP Education Bureau, had briefed the party leaders on the issue during the Supreme Council meeting last Sunday (Jan 25)."LDP is very concerned about this issue and we are compiling a report at this moment," said Teo, who is also Minister of Special Tasks here Wednesday.Teo said he had also personally voiced out his concern on this matter.Teo was told by Jame that 67 religious teachers would be transferred to Sabah this year with 20 to mission schools and 47 to Chinese primary schools.Teo added that several Chinese primary schools in Kota Kinabalu have also been informed about the transfer of an additional religious teacher to each school, including SJK (C) Chung Hwa Kota Kinabalu, SJK (C) Chung Hwa Likas, SJK (C) St James, SJK (C) Lok Yuk and SJK (C) Shan Tao."Our worry is the quota system for religious teachers in Chinese primary schools is set by the Education Ministry."For instance, Teo said the Ministry fixed a quota of 17 religious teachers for SJK (C) Chung Hwa Kota Kinabalu and 14 for SJK (C) Chung Hwa Likas."We are worried that the Chinese schools are obliged to accept the number of religious teachers transferred to the schools based on the quota system from now on."Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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