Kota Kinabalu: An English language teacher who is being sued by three former secondary students in Kota Belud for allegedly refusing to teach them the subject six years ago, said he was not aware there was a complaint about him.
Mohd Jainal Jamran, 50, told High Court Judge Leonard David Shim neither the school principal nor teachers informed him about it.
Mohd Jainal, who has been a teacher for 26 years, also said there was no written complaint against him.
Mohd Jainal was the first witness for the defendants in the suit filed by the former SMK Taun Gusi students, namely first plaintiff Rusiah Sabdarin, second plaintiff Nur Natasha Allisya Hamali and third plaintiff Calvina Angayung.
The students named Mohd Jainal, Suid Hanapi (in his capacity as principal of SMK Taun Gusi), Director-General of Education Malaysia, Minister of Education Malaysia and Government of Malaysia, as the first, second, third, fourth and fifth defendants, respectively.
They claimed, among others, that Mohd Jainal failed to show up in class to teach the subject for seven months in 2017, while the other defendants took no reasonable action despite being notified.
In his witness statement, Mohd Jainal said in 2017, he attended and taught in Form Four Sains Sukan class according to the schedule.
He informed the court that sometimes students in Form Four Sains Sukan class came later to his class and it disturbed his concentration because he had to repeat his lesson.
Mohd Jainal further said some of the students in the Form Four Sains Sukan class did not pay attention while he was teaching and there were also students who did not make any preparations to attend the class.
According to Mohd Jainal, even though there were students who did not come to school and some of them did not focus during lesson, he still continued his teaching in that class.
Mohd Jainal, who is currently a teacher in SMK Taun Gusi II, Kota Belud, told the court that he never had bad intentions or any problems with the plaintiffs or any of his students.
Meanwhile, a former teacher of SMK Taun Gusi, who tried to speak up for her students pertaining the English teacher’s absenteeism in class, said she did not lodge a police report after being threatened with death. She said she was in fear and did not want to make it bigger.
The teacher also said the civil suit was funded by one Ibrahim, who was a former Fullbright English Teaching Assistant at SMM Taun Gusi in 2014 and 2015.
Counsel Sherzali Herza Asli defended the plaintiffs while Senior Federal Counsel Mohd Hafizi Abd Halim together with Federal Counsel Fazrul Fardiansyah Abdul Kadir for the defendants.
Trial continue today (Wednesday).
