HIRING BEST BRAINS AS TEACHERS

Hiring best brains as teachers

SEREMBAN 10/11/2012: Teachers may soon be hired directly from the open market to get the best brains teaching in schools, said Education Service Commission chairman Tan Sri Zulkurnain Awang.

Other measures to improve the quality of teaching in schools included immediately retiring those with medical or disciplinary problems.

There are now some 408,000 teachers on the government’s payroll.

Zulkurnain added that the intake of trainee teachers would also be tightened to ensure only the most qualified were hired.

“We also need to address problems of teachers with disciplinary and prolonged medical and mental problems, including de-pression and see how they can be immediately removed from the system,”

said Zulkurnain at the closing of the Education Ser- vice Commission conference here.

Chief Secretary to the Government Datuk Seri Dr Ali Hamsa in his closing speech said it was important for department heads to take immediate diciplinary action against their underperforming subordinates to ensure others were not demotivated.

His speech was read by acting Public Service director-general Datuk Faridah Mohd Ali.

Ali warned department heads who refused to act against those with disciplinary problems that similar action would be taken against them for dereliction of duty.

In Batu Pahat, Deputy Education Minister Dr Mohd Puad Zakarshi said the ministry would consider extending the appointment of teachers, headmasters and ad- ministrators to Grade DG41 without having to attend an interview.

This would apply to those who had obtained their degree for at least five years.

“The suggestion is fair and we will study it,” he said when asked to comment the proposal made by the National Union of Teaching Profession.