Education Ministry Probes Teacher Allegedly Telling Student To Go Back To China

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The education ministry said it does not tolerate any form of racial statements or actions within the education ecosystem.
PETALING JAYA: The education ministry has launched an internal investigation after an audio clip in which a teacher had allegedly admitted to telling a secondary school student to “go back to China” for struggling with the Malay language went viral.
The ministry said it does not tolerate any form of racial statements or actions within the education ecosystem.
“Regarding the case in question, a thorough internal investigation is underway,” a ministry spokesman told FMT.
The ministry also said a meeting with the parents of the student involved has been scheduled and that psychosocial support services have been made available.
It stressed that government educational institutions must be safe, inclusive, and respectful of the diverse racial, religious, and cultural backgrounds of students.
“The ministry conducts various specialised training programmes to enhance the professionalism, competence, and ethics of educators. This includes pedagogical training that covers aspects of classroom communication,” it added.
In the audio clip, the teacher was allegedly asked on the phone by a man claiming to be a relative of the student to confirm if she had told the student to “go back to China”. She admitted to doing so.
The teacher also allegedly called the student “stupid” and told the student to “sit near the rubbish bin”.
Confronted over the matter, the teacher allegedly said this was not the first time she had spoken to a student in this manner, and that there had been no complaints against her for doing so in the past.
She also purportedly said that it was a big problem if even the parents of the student were not able to converse in Malay.
When the man refused to disclose details of himself, the teacher threatened to report him to the authorities for invading her privacy by calling her telephone number.
She claimed that he was disturbing her while she was on medical leave, and that her husband was with the police force and could track down the man through his phone number. - FMT

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