Pemimpin GSL programme director Samuel Isaiah told a webinar that many of his teacher friends had to fork out their own money to buy printer ink and paper to prepare modules for their students during the pandemic.
He also said that promotion opportunities for teachers are mostly time-based and not based on merit.
“The National Professional Qualification for Educational Leaders (NPQEL) system takes too long, and it can take at least 15-20 years for a teacher to eventually become a principal. The system can be improved,” the 2020 Global Teacher Prize finalist said at the webinar titled “Teachers: Critical Components in Education” hosted by BFM radio.
Pemimpin GSL is the local partner of Global School Leaders (GSL), an international non-profit organisation that is focused on mobilising key stakeholders to invest and participate in school leadership training.
Meanwhile, Fiqah Roslan, who represented education campaign group Tiada.Guru, also talked about cases of teachers who had to use their own money to fix infrastructure damage in schools, like painting the classes or fixing cupboards.
The education ministry receives a big chunk of the national budget every year, “so why do teachers have to use their own money to fix the schools?” she asked.
Fiqah said there should be an independent and transparent audit of the ministry’s expenditure so the public can see where the money is allocated and how it is being spent.
She also said there were cases where teachers were absent from schools and students were deprived of lessons for a long time, adding that there were no strict procedures by the government in handling the situation.
“In one case, a teacher did not attend classes for almost the entire teaching year and when the authorities took note of it, the teacher was simply transferred to another school.
“We identified the problem but it was not solved. We just transferred it,” she said.
Fiqah said procedures to address these issues needed to be effective for the problem not to persist.
In answering Fiqah’s question, National Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP) deputy secretary-general Vel Mohan Rangasamy said school administrations could apply to the district education office to fix infrastructure and they would be allocated money.
“Teachers who had been working for eight years would be automatically promoted to a new category.
“Those who applied for the NPQEL programme and managed to prove their capability could become senior teachers or principals at an early stage,” he added.
Vel Mohan also said that it was impossible to sack a teacher because there were procedures to follow and investigations needed to be conducted to get to the root of any complaint.
“The exit policy is implemented over a few stages, because we can’t immediately expel or stop a teacher from teaching.
“The exit policy is there but it’s not fast and effective,” he said.