Noor Aziah Mohd Awal said they may contact the Office of the Children’s Commissioner (OCC) via email at [email protected]

“Please email the name of the school and who conducted the spot checks. The OCC at Suhakam will collect the data,” she said.

Her call for information was made in the wake of education minister Radzi Jidin saying that initial investigations had not found any evidence of such spot checks occurring.

“We’re drilling until now, we are checking one by one, we’ve asked all divisions and the answer was no (such practices existed),” he said yesterday.

Radzi added that further action would be taken if complete details on the claims were provided.

Former deputy education minister Teo Nie Ching told FMT that the minister’s response was “disappointing”.

She pointed out that the culprits would not own up so easily, adding that denial would not help restore the public’s confidence in the Malaysian education system.

“He (Radzi) should engage, meet or talk to the victims, and create a channel for the students to tell him their stories. Unless he really thinks all of this was fiction.”

Teo also urged Radzi to issue clear instructions for teachers to stop carrying out “period spot checks” to show his ministry’s stance against sexual harassment and abuse of power.

FMT previously reported the accounts of Malaysian students who revealed the torment they faced in public schools, including “period spot checks”, sexual harassment and public shaming.

The students reported how some religious teachers (ustazah), doubtful if they were on their period, felt them up to check for menstrual pads.