Don’t blame the teachers

The Star

MALACCA: Don't just point fingers at teachers when things go wrong but come up with creative ideas to solve the problem, Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said.

Lauding the National Union of the Teaching Profession’s (NUTP) move to conduct courses for teachers to help them deal with the pressures they faced, he said:

“This is a proactive move because many people have been pointing fingers but not many were stepping forward to help.

“There is no point stating the obvious. It would be more helpful if they (critics) came out with creative and innovative ideas to solve the problem. I applaud and fully endorse the action taken by NUTP to help the teachers' plight,” Hishammuddin told reporters after launching the Alor Gajah Umno division meeting in Machap here yesterday.

Earlier in his speech, Hishammuddin touched on the case in Kota Tinggi where a secondary school student who tried to strangle his teacher and was later expelled.

“We have 318,000 teachers in the country and the vast majority are doing their job admirably,” said Hishammuddin, adding that he fully supported the punishment meted out by the education department against the student.

He added that Umno Youth was confident that the Barisan Nasional would be able to wrest the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat from Parti Keadilan Rakyat in the next general election.

The trump card, he said, was in the hands of the 46% non-Malay electorate.

PKR president Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail won the seat, a traditional Umno stronghold, in the last two general elections and remains the sole parliamentary seat being held by the opposition party.

“I visited Permatang Pauh yesterday (Saturday) and felt the progress done so far by our party is very satisfactory,” Hishammuddin told reporters.