GOVERNMENT intervention is needed to prevent an educational crisis with more teachers opting for early retirement, said UMNO deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan.
This comes after NUTP secretary-general Wang Heng Suan had estimated that more than 10,000 teachers have been submitting their papers annually for early retirement over the last few years.
This is in addition to an equal number of teachers leaving the service on mandatory retirement.
Mohamad further noted in a statement today that the figures given by the union far exceeded those revealed by the Education Ministry (MOE) on optional retirement.
As of November 2021, MOE had received a total of 4,360 optional retirement applications, he added.
“If the estimation made by NUTP is true, then the early retirement trend is a matter of great concern. MOE must step forward to clarify and address NUTP’s concerns,” Mohamad said.
Mohamad, or Tok Mat as he is popularly known, said that the COVID-19 pandemic may have contributed to this trend with the pandemic testing the teachers’ emotional and psychological endurance.
“The Government’s intervention in this matter is crucial. The early retirement of experienced teachers is a great loss to the country and if this continues the country will face a more critical education crisis which would affect the quality of the country’s education system,” he remarked.
“The Special Select Committee on Education must call up the representative from MOE to clarify this matter so that a long-term solution can be achieved.”
According to Mohamad, teachers are important catalysts in advancing the nation and have a remarkable influence in shaping the personalities and mindsets of the future generation.
“Their welfare is therefore of uncompromising priority and if so many teachers are ending their careers while they are still productive and are capable of making effective contribution to the country, there must be something wrong with MOE,” he pointed out. – April 19, 2022
