300 teachers told their IT degrees not recognised

NSTP

ARAU: Some 300 non-graduate teachers who pursued distance learning at the Open University of Malaysia may see up to RM6 million going down the drain.

They have been told that the degrees obtained in information technology were not recognised by the Education Ministry.

National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) secretary-general Lok Yim Pheng said they could not be promoted to the DG41 graduate salary scale.

She said they had been told this in no uncertain terms by the ministry’s Teacher Education Division.

She said the teachers had claimed that they were misled into believing that the degrees would be recognised by the Public Service Department (PSD).
"The PSD offer to the teachers shows that the degree was recognised by the PSD and the government," she said after meeting 100 Perlis NUTP members at Sekolah Kebangsaan Arau.

The NUTP, which has received complaints about the problem from affected teachers, is urging the ministry to lend a helping hand to those affected.

Lok said a working paper would be submitted to the Teachers’ Education Division on why the degrees should be recognised.

"Many teachers had spent up to RM20,000 each on their degrees, but the teacher education division said that their degrees were not recognised.

"This is serious as many teachers are involved."

The Open University uses the quality, prestige and capabilities of its owners — a consortium of 11 public universities. It was incorporated as a private university under the Private Higher Education Institutions Act 1996.