Fadli Salleh, better known as Cikgu Fadli on social media, claimed that teachers were muzzled after they voiced out concerns about the primary school syllabus being too difficult.
In a Facebook Live video yesterday, he said it was the responsibility of district education offices to take their grievances up to the state education department, which in turn would raise the matter with the education ministry.
“It’s (bad) enough that the district education offices don’t champion this issue (of the syllabus being too advanced),” he said.
“But when teachers try to defend themselves, the offices try to shut us up instead. This type of attitude is hurting us. That’s the reality of what’s happening to our education system,” said Fadli, who has about 600,000 followers on Facebook.
FMT has contacted the office of education minister Radzi Jidin for a response.
Fadli had previously questioned the Mathematics syllabus in the revised 2017 primary school curriculum, which he believed to be too difficult and “advanced” for primary school pupils.
Stating that the syllabus was not sufficiently supported by school facilities, such as internet access and assistant teachers, he also alleged that there were teachers who could not finish the yearly syllabus on time.
He claimed that he was pressured by education officers from district and state offices in 2019 for questioning the suitability of the Mathematics syllabus in the new textbooks.
“They even called in three or four officers from the syllabus drafting panel from Putrajaya to debate me. But they didn’t want to admit their fault. Instead, they said the teachers were the ones who failed at teaching, and that was why the students could not learn,” he said.
Fadli did not reject the possibility of being called up by the education ministry’s integrity unit over the matter, stating that he would defend himself in court if he had to.
“If they take any action, such as transfer me to another school, prevent me from being promoted or sack me, I will defend myself up until the Federal Court as I consider this to be an abuse of power,” he said.
“Our right to freedom of speech is enshrined in the Federal Constitution”.