Tantrum Thrower
- Spat, banged on table, uttered abusive words, shouted at and scolded fellow teachers
A teacher who threw a tantrum during a meeting with colleagues in a school in Kulim, Kedah, has been transferred to Kulim Bandar Baharu District Education Office, according to a Ministry of Education (MOE) statement.
“She behaved in an unprofessional manner during a teachers’ meeting. The ministry has transferred her to the district office until investigations into why she behaved in that way is complete,” it said.
The transfer was a temporary measure pending an investigation into the teacher’s disruptive behaviour.
“The move was to calm down the teacher as well as to preserve a peaceful learning and teaching environment in the school,” the ministry said.
According to the MOE, preliminary investigations found that the incident occurred on Jan 24 and two clips of the teacher screaming and scolding her fellow teachers in English, Bahasa Malaysia and Hokkien were making the rounds on social media after the incident on Wednesday.
The footage shows the furious teacher spitting, banging the table, shouting “your English is lousy, shut up” and uttering abusive words.
As such the MOE has reminded all school teachers and administrators to act professionally at all times, especially when dealing with their colleagues, students and the public.
“As civil servants, teachers should always show a good example to others and promote trust and confidence in the teaching profession,” said the ministry.
Meanwhile, National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) secretary-general Harry Tan said the teacher must be given every opportunity to explain herself.
Handphone Theft Accuser
- Along with 2 other teachers, questioned student over her missing iPhone 6
- Confined student in a room for nearly 5 hours – with no food or toilet break
- Together with husband, threatened to take the student to the police if she did not admit to alleged theft
- Drove the girl home to meet her parents
- Appeared to have her iPhone again – not known if it was the old or a new phone
The teacher who accused a Form Two student at a school in Nibong Tebal, Penang, of stealing an iPhone has been removed from the school and placed at the South Seberang Prai district education office pending a probe.
Penang Education Department deputy director Mohd Jamil Mohamed told reporters on Saturday that an investigation had begun and he assured that there would be no compromise with the culprit.
It is understood that police and the education department are investigating the matter.
Based on a police report lodged by a relative of the schoolgirl at the Prai police station, M Vasanthapiriya, a student of SMK Methodist in Nibong Tebal, was called in for questioning by three teachers at 2pm last Wednesday.
One of them, a woman in her 40s, accused her of stealing her iPhone 6, the report said.
After the teen denied stealing the handphone, another teacher allegedly hit her on the back in full view of other students.
Apparently, Vasanthapiriya was then confined to a room in the teachers’ office quarters for nearly five hours, without any food or toilet break.
At 6.45pm, the husband of the teacher who lost her handphone arrived at the school. The couple threatened to take her to the police if she did not admit to the alleged theft, the report said.
They then drove Vasanthapiriya to her house to meet her parents. The teen ran up to her room, while her parents and the accuser left home “to sort things out,” the report said.
Accused who attempted suicide
Traumatised by the incident, the student attempted to take her life.
Upon returning home at 8.20pm, her father broke into her room after repeated calls went unanswered.
She was found unconscious but alive, hanging on her ‘dupatta’ (shawl) off an air-conditioning piping, with her legs in contact with the floor.
She had left a suicide note written on a torn page of her school exercise book.
“Teacher (name withheld) I did not take your phone,” Vasanthapiriya wrote in romanised Tamil, along with goodbyes to her parents and grandmother.
Her parents rushed her to the Sungai Bakap Hospital for treatment and she was later transferred to the Seberang Jaya Hospital.
She is now reportedly brain dead and on life support.
According to Malaysian Tamilar Kular president David Marshel Pakianathan, who is also a Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MPSP) councillor and assisting Vasanthapiriya’s family, the student had suffered organ failure and was undergoing intensive-care treatment.
“We are praying for a miracle for her to survive and tell us what she has gone through,” he told FMT.
Eyewitness claims
Meanwhile, a close friend of Vasanthapiriya claimed that the accuser may have suspected her after seeing a CCTV recording of someone like her with long hair at the teachers’ office, FMT reported.
The friend added that the teacher became doubly suspicious when Vasanthapiriya went to the office to place workbooks on her table.
“She had collected workbooks from us and she volunteered to put them on that teacher’s table. So, I think that is why the teacher suspected her.
“But it is funny because the teacher appeared to have her iPhone again after the whole thing. We are not sure if she had gotten her phone back or had bought a new one,” a friend who wished to remain anonymous told FMT.
The friend also revealed that two days before the incident, Vasanthapiriya had collected RM70 from her friends to hold a birthday party for the accuser.
“Her father is a good cook. So she gave the money to her father to cook some dishes and brought it to school for a small ‘makan’ (meal) and birthday at the school,” the friend was quoted saying.
Hopefully, the truth of the matter will emerge from the ongoing investigation.
Related report: Jan 27, Form Two Girl in Suicide Bid After Teacher Accuses Her of Stealing Handphone