KUALA LUMPUR – The Education Ministry is conducting an in-depth investigation into the allegation of a female student that went viral on social media claiming that her schoolteacher had made rape jokes during class.
Minister Datuk Radzi Jidin said the ministry took the matter seriously and would not tolerate it if the incident really happened.
“This has become a police case, but we are also investigating if it really happened. If there is a case, strict and appropriate action will be taken,” he said at a special press conference on the Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah and Form 3 Assessment here today.
He was commenting on the issue of a teenage female student who, through the TikTok app, had alleged that a male teacher made rape jokes in class while discussing the issue of sexual harassment during physical education and health subjects at her school.
Meanwhile on Covid-19 clusters involving the education sector, Radzi said he had asked the Health Ministry to separate clusters related to the Education Ministry’s operations as Covid-19 cases detected in all institutes of higher learning, state government schools, private schools, maahad tahfiz and others are currently classified under the education cluster.
“This is to enable the community to get a clear picture of what is really happening in the context of education. If we put all education clusters under one umbrella, it looks as if everything is related to schools,” he said.
When asked about the status of the donation of laptops under the Smart Fund in Budget 2021 to facilitate home-based teaching and learning, Radzi said that the donation process had begun and more than 13,000 units so far had been distributed to eligible students.
On the complaints of some parents on why school holidays did not start earlier, Radzi said the ministry would continue to follow the existing school calendar.
“We have more than five million students and 500,000 teachers who have their own families, so it’s a big ecosystem. That’s why we try to maintain the school calendar and find the best approach,” he said.
Earlier, the ministry announced that home-based learning after Aidilfitri will continue for two weeks to replace face-to-face sessions at schools. – Bernama, April 28, 2021
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