Interim teachers in turmoil over their termination
KUCHING: The tears shed by 72 interim teachers from secondary schools throughout Sarawak and their parents on their termination on Oct 31 reflect the hardship and sorrow they are facing.
They are the ones that did not pass the psychometric test and second interview to be absorbed as permanent teachers.
They came from the 2016 batch of interim teachers who have bachelor or master degrees in education from accredited private institutions.
They hope the state government, through the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Research will take immediate action to help them be reabsorbed as teachers.
“We are not here to blame anyone, just to show how we feel. We hope people out there understand what we are facing,” one of them said yesterday.
At the end of May, the state education minister through The Borneo Post said they would be re-interviewed starting August and their services extended to December this year.
However, the letter received dated July 21 from the state Education Department, said the extension is only until Oct 31, requested a copy of their Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) certificate, and informed them that they would have to sit for a test and be called for an interview before they are terminated.
“But until today (yesterday), we have not heard anything about when to sit for the test and interview.”
“Further more, if the psychometric test is very important, why were there interim teachers who passed the interview without sitting for the test. And why are the teachers under the Teach For Malaysia (TFM) programme given a chance to serve for two years without sitting for the test first despite not being education-field graduates?
“Then, there’s also the issue of non-interim candidates being called for interview and passed,” another said.
To add insult to injury, the interim teachers are said to be not of quality, when their services are still needed by the school to enter data online. During the year-end, exam marks must be keyed in online by the interim teachers despite being terminated.
Even the marks for teaching quality showed they have good performance as evaluated by the school.
A teacher also lamented how new interim teachers (Sept 2017), around 500 of them, from non-education field were given a chance to serve and attended teaching courses throughout their services.
They requested to be given the same chance.
The purpose of the press conference yesterday was to share their feelings on the situation, with the hope that people understand what they are going through and stop judging or criticising them.
“Some of us travel quite far with families to fight for our right to an interview before we are terminated.
“We have exhausted other means to get answers. We have written letters, made calls, and got no where. We were passed around from one department to another. Hence, we called the press to get the message across.”
For the record, 819 interim teacher candidates were interviewed in 2016.
They were among the 239 who passed the interview and appointed interim teachers in government schools throughout the state starting March 21, 2016.