KOTA KINABALU: A teacher from SMKA Tun Datu Mustapha told the inquest on Wednesday that assessing a student’s emotional state requires qualified expertise, such as a psychiatrist, and cannot be determined by teachers alone.
Muliati Alihudin said this when questioned about whether Zara Qairina Mahathir’s tears after meeting senior students indicated emotional distress, stressing that emotions could not be evaluated without professional input.
She said the school would need to call in an expert to determine whether Zara had been verbally bullied, as emotional assessments were not within a teacher’s scope despite written statements from other students.
Muliati also said various prevention programmes, warnings and monitoring had been carried out by the school, but argued that shaping student behaviour required support from the wider community and parents.
She added that she had no authority to decide on disciplinary action against a dorm leader accused of making a threatening remark, saying such decisions must be made collectively, as the inquest continues.
