Corpun file 19494

The Star, Kuala Lumpur, 1 August 2007

Don wants parents to stop meddling in teachers' actions

AN ACADEMICIAN has urged the Education Ministry to draft regulations to prevent parents from interfering in teachers' disciplinary actions against students, Berita Harian reported.

Prof Emeritus Datuk Dr Khoo Kay Kim said it was time for such regulations to be enforced, considering the increasing number of parents intervening in disciplinary actions taken by teachers, even if it was for the purpose of educating the students.

"These days, instead of admitting that their children had been naughty, they blame the teachers," he said.

"Some parents even went to confront the teachers," he said, adding that parents' interference has to stop and laws enforced for disciplinary action against students to be effective."

However, Prof Khoo said this did not mean that parents could [not] do anything in cases of excessive punishment, abuse or crime.

"In such cases, parents can go through the relevant channels, including making police reports," he said, commenting on reports that the Education Ministry was studying the return of authority to teachers to discipline students, including caning them in public.

Khoo said the Government had to assure the public that the regulations would not allow teachers to do as they pleased but would only curb the growing problem of indiscipline in schools.

National PTA Collaboration Council president Assoc Prof Dr Mohamad Ali Hassan said such regulations would help teachers avoid being victims of ridicule by parents.

Malaysian Teachers Foundation Bhd chairman Datuk Salleh Mohd Husein said studies should be carried out to fine-tune procedures and methods of disciplining students.

Malaysian Education Research Association president Datuk Dr Ahmad Ibrahim Bajunid said it was adequate to only empower the school principal and disciplinary teacher to mete out punishment.

© 1995-2005 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd (Co No 10894-D)

Corpun file 19570

The Star, Kuala Lumpur, 6 August 2007

School says sorry for caning that left bruises

(extract)

SUNGAI Petani's SMK Sin Min issued a statement to apologise to parents after two disciplinary teachers caned 30 students for flouting rules and bruised some students' buttocks, China Press reported.

The bruising led to upset parents demanding an explanation from the school.

The case, which was reported in Chinese newspapers, received public attention and many versions of the incident were circulated among the Chinese community, causing hurt to teachers and students, the paper quoted the statement.

School authorities, after chairing a meeting with the school's board of directors and the parent-teacher association on Friday, said it regretted the incident and apologised to the parents.

It also said caning students who had flouted disciplinary rules was one of the approaches used by the school for many years to discipline students.

SMK Sin Min principal Lok Kin Hong said that to avoid a recurrence of such an incident, students who are to be caned more than once would not receive the canings on the same day.

On Wednesday, 30 Form One students were caned for not submitting their homework, talking in the class and attending classes without textbooks.

Three of them suffered bruises and their parents confronted the school over the incident.

[...]

© 1995-2005 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd (Co No 10894-D)