KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 19 — DAP national chairman Lim Guan Eng today claimed that a public school teacher popularly known as Cikgu Fadli was not disciplined by the Education Ministry for criticising its syllabus due to the upcoming general election and fear of public backlash.
The Bagan MP said that a show-cause letter from the ministry would usually be followed by disciplinary action.
“Cikgu Fadli even hinted that he was saved by the general election when he asked all political parties to include concerns about the failure of the education system and the broken system that is run by the Education Ministry in their general election manifesto.
“Perhaps, general elections should be held every year so that brave citizens like Cikgu Fadli who expose a broken education system will not be victimised but be protected by citizen outrage and the government’s fear of losing votes,” Lim said in a statement.
He likened the the vocal teacher whose full name is Mohd Fadli Mohd Salleh to the boy who questioned why the emperor wore no clothes in the popular folk tale of the same name.
He also took a swipe at Umno’s Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob for taking up Cikgu Fadli’s case after it drew public outrage, suggesting the caretaker prime minister should be similarly moved by the continuing devaluation of the ringgit.
“Up to now Ismail Sabri’s loud and deadly silence leaves many businesses and Malaysians lost and confused as to what are the government’s plans to shore up the ringgit,” he said.
Lim suggested Malaysians issue a “show-cause letter” to the Education Ministry for continuing a syllabus that did not work, adding that the issues raised by Cikgu Fadli were widespread and faced by constituents in Bagan.
“Unless immediate remedial action is taken now, the Education Minister meeting Cikgu Fadli is only a sandiwara or sheer theatrics to delude the voters that the government cares,” he said.
Yesterday, Bernama reported the Education Ministry clearing the teacher of violating Regulation 19(1)(c) of the Public Officer Regulations (Conduct and Discipline) 1993.
The regulation forbids a public officer from providing a public review of any government decision, policy, or plan whether through written or verbal means.
Mohd Fadli, a Mathematics teacher at Sekolah Kebangsaan (1) Gombak, had aired his grievances on social media with several issues he had identified in the Malaysian education system, which went viral.
He said that the Math syllabus was too advanced for primary school students, there were too many students in one class, the students learnt too many subjects, and heavy schoolbags were threatening the development of young students.
He claimed that he had initially gone through the proper channels with his complaints, but no action was taken.
