KUALA LUMPUR – Former deputy education minister Teo Nie Ching has called on the ministry to hold discussions with rejected contract teacher candidates, following allegations regarding ambiguities in the special recruitment drive.
In a statement today, she urged the ministry and the Education Service Commission to clear the air on the results of the recruitment process, which was announced on May 28 and has since generated much backlash from rejected candidates.
“The ministry must answer whether it is true that more than 90% of applicants had failed to qualify for this intake and that the original quota of 5,000 had been reduced to 2,400.
“Is it also true that some options, such as Bahasa Melayu, saw no candidates being accepted?” she said, noting that the results were supposed to be released on November 27 after interviews had concluded on November 14.
Speaking to The Vibes, she said many unsatisfied applicants had reached out to her to voice their grievances, with many insisting that there are discrepancies in the results of the recruitment process.
“I think the best way to resolve this issue would be to have a meeting where the ministry can address all allegations.
“If there is any truth behind the claims, then they (the ministry) must explain why the situation is as such and work on providing solutions.
“These contract teacher hopefuls had waited for six months to obtain their results. Is this sort of treatment fair and reasonable?”
Outlining similar points as Teo, an online petition calling for clarification from the ministry regarding the matter has been created on behalf of the rebuffed applicants.
Alleging that successful candidates include those from the one-off teacher recruitment scheme who had previously failed their interview due to incomplete documents, the petition also questioned why candidates of a separate programme are now part of the contract teacher intake quota.
Previously, education graduates had cried foul over apparent flaws in the ministry’s special one-off teacher recruitment scheme and submitted a memorandum to Putrajaya detailing their complaints.
Teo had held a Zoom meeting with the group after their efforts to seek clarification regarding their rejected applications had fallen on deaf ears. – The Vibes, May 31, 2022
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