NUTP president Aminuddin Awang said the low uptake shows that many are unaware of the importance of being insured, Bernama reported.

“The insurance premium offered under NUTP is very low, starting at RM5, which is deducted monthly, but the benefits received can reach up to RM220,000 if anything untoward happens to them,” Aminuddin was quoted as saying after a cheque presentation event at SK Jeram in Masjid Tanah, Melaka, today.

He encouraged the 430,000 teachers nationwide to join the NUTP and take part in the insurance scheme.

He also urged new teachers who have not yet registered as NUTP members to do so, as the union advocates for teachers on key issues such as welfare, services, salaries, allowances, and workload.

At the ceremony, 11 teachers who were injured in an accident on June 9 on the Kuantan-Segamat Road in Rompin, Pahang, were each given a RM500 cash donation from the NUTP.

Zul Sham Mahat, 56, received a payout of RM306,973.24 after his wife, Dahlia Ahmad, 52, a member of the union’s insurance scheme, was killed in an accident along with three other teachers.

The incident resulted in 35 injuries when a bus carrying school personnel from SK Jeram to Terengganu for benchmarking programmes lost control and crashed into a trailer carrying steel coils.

The other fatalities included SK Jeram’s assistant headmaster, Hasnatul Adilah Hassan, 48, the school’s operations assistant, Hamzah Ahmad, 60, and the second bus driver, Hadi Asyraf Mad Idris, 29.

The bus, carrying 39 passengers, including two drivers, was reported to have overturned on a slope after losing control.