SERIAN: Headmasters should not compromise when it comes to safety of their schools by sweeping problems under the carpet just to protect their reputation.
GIMMICK LAUNCHING: Fatimah (second left) officially launch the event yesterday. Seen on her right is Kem Juara National Service Training Centre commandant Major Muhammad Halid Abdul Hamid.
Minister in the Chief Minister’s Office Datin Fatimah Abdullah said that safety in school should be the topmost priority of the teachers apart from their main core business to teach and guide the children.
“School headmasters and teachers cannot take the safety of their students for granted. In fact the Education ministry is very clear on this and had came out with guidelines that should be implemented through a concept known as the safe school concept.
“This does not only involve the safety of the school infrastructure alone but also that of the teachers, supporting staff and students…everybody,” she said.
She said this when speaking to reporters after the launch of the state level inception of opportunities for community service volunteerism module in the national service training centre at the Kem Juara National Service Training Centre here yesterday.
She was asked to comment on complaints that some headmasters were very secretive about any misconducts happening in their schools and preferred to keep silent about it for fear that their reputation will be smeared once it reached the knowledge of the public.
“Reputation is one thing. Of course everybody would like to protect their reputation which can be destroyed by just a single incident like this. That we have to understand as well but we have to look at it at another perspective which is about the safety of the children which should be our topmost priority.
“As the headmasters and teachers in the school in fact it is your responsibility to provide security to the students. This should be the topmost importance. Other things should come in secondary,” she said.
Fatimah added that the school authorities should make sure that the school was safe and not only physically but also safe in term of its social aspect.
“This is because we want our children to study in a safe environment so that they can focus in their education,” she said.
Sadly, she said, there had been cases such as bullying or extortions being reported in some schools in the state and in most incidences the victims were too scared to report the matter to the school authority, teachers or even their parents for fear that they may run into more trouble. In such a situation, Fatimah suggested that the respective schools must set up a system that will enable the victims to inform the authority discreetly without detriment to their safety.
On the alleged extortion case in SMK Sg Tapang, she said that the case was now under police investigation.
Besides, she said, the school was also carrying out its own probe where the initial investigation had revealed that actually the persons believed to be involved in the case were not students of the school.