Noh: Teachers’ union can sue parents

NST

PETALING JAYA: The Education Ministry will not prohibit the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) from suing parents who give false reports to the media on the alleged misconduct of teachers against their children, Deputy Education Minister Datuk Noh Omar said yesterday.

He said that as a union, the NUTP had the right to take such action.

However, court action should be the last resort for the resolution of problems involving schoolchildren and teachers, he said here.

Noh was asked to comment on a report quoting NUTP secretary-general Lok Yim Pheng as saying that the decision to take such action was adopted by the union’s executive committee on Friday.

Lok had said that many teachers had become victims of false reports in the media, which tarnished the image of teachers. This was because parents went to the press after only listening to what their children told them instead of finding out what had actually happened.
Noh advised the affected parties not to seek legal redress for all disciplinary problems.

"We can discuss things. The ministry wants to create human capital. We want to establish a win-win situation. If we go to court, one party will win and the other will lose."