BANGI, July 13 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said teachers who are negligent, indisciplined, and perform poorly should be excluded from the time-based promotion privilege.
Even though the government accepted the principle of time-based promotion, it would revoke the facility for teachers who were negligent and had poor discipline.
"If the discipline (of teachers) is weak, if they do not go to school many times in a year, I want to cancel it (time-based). So we have to be careful, but I believe 90 per cent of them have no problem," he said at the Golden Jubilee celebration of the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) today.
Also present were Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek, Public Service Department director-general Datuk Seri Wan Ahmad Dahlan Abdul Aziz, Selangor Menteri Besar Dato' Seri Amirudin Shari, and NUTP president Aminuddin Awang.
Anwar said when he was the Education Minister (from 1986 to 1991), the teachers were blamed because children took drugs, did not study well, and were not smart, but they accepted it because it was part of their responsibility.
The teacher's job is to educate people so that each one has an element of humanity; as such, each student must love and affectionately regard the teacher.
"I am grateful to Sekolah Cheruk Tok Kun, Bukit Mertajam Boys School, Malay College Kuala Kangsar and Universiti Malaya.
"I have never forgotten the contribution of teachers because without them other than my parents, it would not be possible for (me) to gain a foothold in my career if not instilled with that spirit," he said.
Therefore, the welfare of teachers should be protected, and at the same time, changes should be made.
"Malaysia has the ability and capacity to raise the dignity of the nation and the country, to be a good model economically, politically, socially and educationally because the basic strength is there.
"If you want to improve, you cannot do it with a sluggish culture like now; you have to be firm," Anwar said.
The Prime Minister urged his detractors not to dispute his commitment in matters on Malay as the official language and in the national education policy.
However, there is no obstacle to the development of Chinese, Tamil, Arabic, or other languages , and space should be given.
In order to boost the country's economy, special emphasis needs to be placed on the mastery of the English language in the country's efforts towards digital transformation and artificial intelligence.
"My instructions to the Ministry of Education is not to delay as there is a need for an immediate framework for the level of English proficiency so that the country can compete.
"At the same time, let us not belittle the Malay language, mastery and quality, which should be better now because of the capability of our children," he said.
On the Public Service Remuneration System, Anwar said the scheme is one of the best ever announced by the government and hopes it will improve civil servants' services and stop bad practices.
Although the plan received criticism from various quarters, it did not interfere with the government's commitment to implement it, considering that civil servants had not experienced a salary revision for 12 years.
Two NUTP proposals will be brought up for discussion involving assistant teachers in primary schools grade DG48 being allowed to hold positions as senior assistants and operations in primary schools, including head teachers who have been promoted to grade DG52 on a time-based basis being allowed to hold that position until grade DG54 .
— Bernama
