I’m sure you are aware of the refusal by some 100 language teachers in some districts in Selangor to be transfered to other districts within the state. Same problem occurring in Penang as well. According to one reader’s letter to the Sun:

Many of those involved were English and Bahasa Malaysia teachers. The letter was dated Nov 25 and was effective Dec 1.

This showed that the redeployment was done in a haste and not thought of properly. This is only the first phase and I heard that the whole process, in three phases, will involve nearly 1,000 teachers.

Some comments from Malay Mail:

Some 100 teachers involved in a redeployment exercise have refused to be transferred to other districts in Selangor.

National Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP) president, Hashim Adnan, said the  84 English Language and 16 Malay Language optional teachers were redeployed under the programme to strengthen Bahasa Malaysia and English 2009–2010.

“Mismatch of teachers was among factors that gave rise to this problem. Transfer of teachers will cause more problems rather than solve existing ones,” he told a Press conference at Wisma NUTP here today.

Hashim said the ministry should consider factors like age, health and family when considering appeals from the 100 teachers redeployed.

Meanwhile, NUTP secretary Lok Yim Pheng, said the transfer of teachers to districts involves high transportation cost.

“They have to leave their families and only get to meet them on weekends, thus creating problems. Transfer on short notice is inhuman.”

Lok urged the government to increase the age of teachers pursuing the ministry’s long distance study to 48 years from 45 presently.

“The age for those studying on their own should also be increased from 50 to 53 years. We need to create professional teachers,” she added.

The problem in Selangor:

The redeployment of teachers announced in Selangor recently has drawn flak from the 100 affected by the exercise.

National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) president Hashim Adnan said the teachers were upset at being transferred to schools which were too far from the schools they were currently based in.

“For instance, a teacher who is teaching in Klang is being deployed to Sabak Bernam,” he told a press conference at the NUTP headquarters.

Hashim said 84 English option teachers and 16 Bahasa Malaysia option teachers were involved in the redeployment exercise in Selangor.

Teachers are transferred be tween the districts in the state to meet the shortage of language teachers in the rural areas, in support of the policy on Upholding BM and Strengthening English announced by the Government.

According to Hashim, more than 20 teachers have lodged complaints with NUTP to express their dissatisfaction.

“Teachers who are unhappy with their transfers are advised to appeal to the state education department,” said Hashim.

NUTP secretary-general Lok Yim Pheng urged the Education Ministry to look into the complaints of the teachers as many of them had to leave their families behind when they move to the new schools.

“Some of the teachers were given very short notice. Teachers with young children are the ones who are badly hit by this redeployment exercise,” she said.

“These teachers also have to fork out extra expenditure to pay for rent and the long distances travelled.”

A teacher who was at the press conference said she had to travel more than 100km every day in order to get to her new school.

NUTP suggested the ministry look at other measures, such as holding conversion courses to retrain the non-option teachers so that they could teach the subjects.

On another matter, NUTP appealed to the ministry to increase the age limit for teachers applying for the distance learning programme from 45 to 48.

The State Education Department says teachers can appeal and only 20 had appealed so far:

Teachers who are redeployed to schools far away from their current base are allowed to appeal to the Selangor Education Department.

“Each appeal will be looked through and given due consideration,” the Education Ministry said in a statement yesterday.

It has been reported that about 100 teachers in Selangor are upset about the transfers. Some of them were apparently sent to places that were 100km away from their present schools.

The ministry said in the statement that there was an imbalance in the distribution of teachers within schools in a district and within districts in the state.

“The redeployment is mostly to Kuala Selangor and Sabak Bernam as both districts are facing a critical shortage of English teachers.”

Other districts especially Klang, Petaling Perdana, Petaling Utama and Hulu Langat have a surplus of English teachers.

The redeployment also involves Bahasa Malaysia option teachers as there was a surplus in Sabak Bernam and Kuala Langat. Thus, these teachers would need to be sent elsewhere to minimise the mismatch, the ministry said.

In Shah Alam, a group of teachers held a demonstration in front the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) office yesterday to voice discontentment over their transfers to schools about 100km away from their current location.

The transfers were implemented on Dec 1. However, many have not reported at their new schools yet.

“Most of the teachers are from Klang but they now have to move to Sabak Bernam,” said a secondary school English teacher who identified himself only as Vijay, 47.

“We don’t want to leave because we’ve settled down here for years. We have our families to think of.”

Another teacher who wanted to be known as Anamalai, 47, urged the NUTP to fight for their welfare.

“We pay the union RM72 a year. What are they doing to protect us?”

They suggested that the NUTP appeal to the ministry and send fresh graduates to the rural areas instead as the older ones had been through transfers before.

“I taught in Sarawak for five years when I first became a teacher. Young graduates have fewer problems being redeployed,” said a teacher known as Bala, 46.

The teachers said that they were not against the ministry’s orders but being sent so far away would pose a major inconvenience.

Helmi Che Raus, 32, a Bahasa Malaysia teacher from Kapar, expressed concern over his transfer to Bukit Rimau.

“Travelling will require a lot of petrol and we were told to find our own accommodation. Think of our financial pressure. Our salaries are not increased,” he said.

Din, an English teacher with two children, said she had appealed for help from the NUTP.

“I have not heard from them yet.” .

Similar problem in Penang (hmm..earlier Selangor and now Penang? I guess its just a coincidence):

More than 100 teachers on Penang island are unhappy that they have been transferred to the mainland, including Sungai Petani and Kulim, from this month.

It is learnt that the group only received their transfer letters dated Nov 26 on Dec 13 at their respective schools.

An English teacher in Air Itam said he was transferred to a school in Bukit Mertajam, which is about 40km from his house.

“I will have to fork out an extra RM25 per day for the journey and toll charges which equals to RM500 per month,” he said yesterday.

He said about 80 teachers had submitted their appeals to the state Education Department.

He claimed that some teachers had decided to apply for six months unpaid leave while others had taken forms to apply for optional retirement.

State Education director Ibrahim Mohamad said the redeployment was necessary as there were excess teachers on the island.

He said a meeting would be held before the opening of the new school term to look into the matter and also to consider the appeals submitted by the affected teachers.

NUTP secretary-general Loke Yim Pheng said the Government should pay for the travelling expenses of the transferred teachers.

This is what the state education officer said:

According to The Star, state education director Ibrahim Mohamad said the redeployment was necessary as there were excess teachers on the island.

He said a meeting would be held before the opening of the new school term to look into the matter and also to consider the appeals submitted by the affected teachers.

Now, the Public Complaints Bureau has stepped in. However, I’m not sure how the PCB can interfere in the internal affairs of an organization. This isn’t a public complaint, but employee against employer. Should be handled by Human Resource Ministry. Unless of course parents complaint that education quality dropped or something.

Come Wednesday, the public complaints bureau will meet education ministry officials to seek a solution to the grouses of teachers in Penang and Selangor, who have received transfer letters.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk T. Murugiah, who is also in charge of the department, said he had received many complaints on the matter from the teachers concerned.

He said, if the teachers were unhappy over the transfers, it would affect their performance, and this in turn, would impact the students.

As the teachers had asked for the department’s assistance for a solution, Murugiah said he would speak to Deputy Education Minister Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi on the matter.

“Some were transferred too far away. They need to rent a house and some had to spend extra for the petrol due to the far distance from their homes. All these will burden them with additional living costs,” he said on Sunday.

Murugiah was commenting on a report which highlighted the plight of more than 100 teachers on Penang island who expressed unhappiness over their transfers to the mainland, including Sungai Petani and Kulim, beginning this month.

My take – Shifting teachers around is merely hiding the actual problem. Why did the “excess” occur in the first place? These things don’t happen overnight. Who approved the posting of teachers? Who allowed for teachers to pursue bachelor/postgraduate in those fields and end up overqualified for current position? Who does the allocation of seats for teaching colleges for future need? Who come out with these policies? Is there any element of corruption or negligence in these procedures? I think accountability is important. When things go well, everyone wants to take credit. When things fails, try to cover up or blame others. Some people must take responsibility for the excess, be it previous or current ministers, top management, senior officers or junior executives. Its easy to say that as civil servants, the teachers must serve wherever they are ordered to. But that’s just hiding the real problem. Yeah, some may have established own tuition centers and earning handsomely. Shitfing will cost a big loss for them. But is this the right “punishment”?

As for solution, I think we need a better system of keeping track of available teachers and future needs for each subject. Secondly, probably there should be some allocation for those travelling more than 50km per day to cover their expenses.  The government provides for relocation cost but still there’s issue of relocating the children’s school, the spouse finding a job, and also renting a house. If given more time (like 2 months), then it may be acceptable.