Religious classes suspended to facilitate probe into allegation

KUCHING: A school in Miri has suspended its Quran and Fardu Ain ( Kafa) classes in order to investigate the case of a Kafa teacher who allegedly forced six pupils to strip.

Minister of Welfare, Women and Community Wellbeing Datuk Fatimah Abdullah said the headmaster, who is conducting the investigation, had already interviewed the teacher – who is a local – pupils, parents and Kafa supervisor.

The case has been investigated and the solution that was conveyed to me last night (Thursday) by the headmaster is that no Kafa classes are to be conducted until after Chinese New Year. Datuk Fatimah Abdullah, Minister of Welfare, Women and Community Wellbeing

“The case has been investigated and the solution that was conveyed to me last night ( Thursday) by the headmaster is that no Kafa classes are to be conducted until after Chinese New Year,” she said when contacted yesterday.

She was commenting on the case where the pupils were allegedly made to strip for being noisy during a Kafa class on Jan 17, which resulted in angry parents turning up at the school to demand answers.

According to Fatimah, the Kafa teacher was handling more than her usual group of pupils because the other Kafa teacher was absent when the alleged incident occurred.

“Because the group was bigger than her usual group, the class became noisy and boisterous.

“So to control the class, she threatened them, but the noise level and indiscipline continued; thus she carried out the threat,” she explained.

Fatimah said the Kafa teacher – who taught Quran, Fardu Ain and Arabic – was under the payroll of the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim), adding that the subjects were taught three times a week after normal school hours.

Meanwhile, state Parti Keadilan Rakyat ( PKR) chief Baru Bian called on the Ministry of Education to investigate the case.

“If true, the Education Ministry must make an investigation. This is not right and it appears to be misplaced,” said Baru, who is Ba Kelalan assemblyman.

Baru said while disciplinary action should be taken to address disobedience or any breach of rules, “stripling is definitely not one of them. This is humiliating”.

He added that the teacher in question must be assessed to see if she was fit to be a teacher, particularly for religious education.