THE Education Ministry (MOE) and the Education Service Commission (SPP) should stop passing the buck and sit down together to address the root cause of the problems faced by qualified candidates of one-off special recruitment teachers, said a DAP MP.
Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching said that the one-off teacher recruitment initiative which involved 18,702 teachers is an effort to address the issue of teacher shortage.
However, hundreds of applicants who had passed an interview last year had found their applications “overlooked” by the SPP following a system glitch.
“After passing the interview these applicants were requested to submit certain documents by Dec 15, 2021 which they have duly complied with,” Teo commented in a statement today (April 22).
“Nonetheless, these applicants did not receive their offer letter even though they have submitted their documents by the deadline.
Among those who are facing this problem are post-graduates of Diploma in Education (majoring in Chinese Language) from the University of Malaya (UM) and also graduates of TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) – both critical subjects that face acute shortage of teachers.”
According to estimates by the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) more than 10,000 teachers have submitted their papers annually for early retirement over the last few years.
This is in addition to the equal number of teachers who are leaving the service on mandatory retirement.
“It is time that MOE look for solutions outside the box. We must think about diversifying the manner in which MOE accepts teachers,” Teo remarked.
“Presently MOE has a narrow and outdated manner of recruiting teachers where those undergoing training at teacher training institutes (IPG) and public university courses can enrol as teachers.”
Teo said many talents outside the pool or category have no way of becoming a teacher in school unless by way of special intakes.
“This one-off teacher recruitment involving 18,000 vacancies is a good example and I commend Senior Education Minister Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin for it,” she said.
“However, it will be futile if qualified applicants who have passed the interview are not getting their placement.
“In any public education system, having sufficient number of teachers is of paramount importance and this is why MOE and SPP should stop passing the buck and sit down together to address the root cause of the issue.” – April 22, 2022
