KUCHING: Agencies such as Education Services Commission (SPP) are responsible for the appointment of teachers, and independently select and interview applicants to see if they are suitable.
Minister of Welfare, Women and Community Wellbeing Datuk Fatimah Abdullah said ‘no’ when asked if a minister could intervene.
She said SPP has its own process for selection and interviewing, including a psychometric test, questions on general and professional knowledge, and a simple teaching scenario to go through.
“From there, they will do an assessment and if they are happy, they will give you a letter of appointment. This is what happens under Jobs Malaysia,” she said, adding that Jobs Malaysia was the correct channel for the positions of education services officer (Pegawai Perkhidmatan Pendidikan).
Fatimah was asked at the Pongal celebration yesterday for her response to Sarawak DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen’s latest allegation on Wong Wang Yuen’s inability to get a Mathematics teacher posting.
Earlier last week, Chong highlighted that Wong’s application was rejected by Sarawak Islamic Religious Department (Jais) and questioned why they had a role in her application.
Fatimah had responded that Jais put up two job vacancies for teachers and it was a matter of job matching that brought Wong’s application to their attention.
“I must stress that this has to be looked at in an objective manner. Don’t sensationalise it into something else,” she said, adding that planting seeds of distrust against other races would create a fragile society.
Fatimah said she felt sorry for Wong because she (Wong) was being used.