The transfer of several teachers from SMK Limbanak, news of which had gone viral in the last couple of days, was claimed to be a move to make up for the shortage of teachers in SMK Bahang.

In a meeting with Penampang district education officer Mojuntin Ebin and SMK Limbanaks head of Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), Isidore Lijawa yesterday, Moyog assemblyman Terrence Siambun said that the reason given was that SMK Limbanak had a surplus of nine teachers while SMK Bahang had a shortage of eight teachers.

According to Mojuntin, the teachers were transferred due to shortage of the subject teachers in SMK Bahang.

SMK Limbanak had an additional two English teachers and four Biology teachers, he said.

The move, said the education officer, was not related to religious issues as rumoured, but was necessary to balance out the numbers in order to maintain the districts education performance.

One teacher, Cikgu Teo, was selected for the transfer for residing in (Kampung) Bahang.

The principal had a similar problem in SMK Putatan whereby a majority of the students were Muslims.

The State Education Department will propose the action deemed necessary on the principal.

My advice to the parents involved is to remain calm and wait for the next course of action by the Education Department.

We will continue to monitor the development of the case from time to time. For now, give some time to the department and Penampang district education office to solve the problem, said Terrence.

Good communication between administration, teachers, PTA, community is very much needed in order for the school to achieve excellence, said Mojuntin.

He added that they had also submitted a report to the State Education Department for further action.

Some parents have called for the removal of the principal of SMK Limbanak after she transferred the teachers.

They put up a banner at the archway along the road leading to Kampung Limbanak near the Penampang secondary school on Monday, with a message asking for the transfer of its principal. It was removed later in the day.

The words on the banner read: We the parents of students of SMK Limbanak want the principal removed as she caused chaos and destroyed the schools excellent track record.

Photos of the banner were widely circulated over social media.

State education exco Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said on Monday that acting state education department director Maimunah Suhaibul had started an investigation into the matter.

It was reported the issue with the principal started last year with the transfer of two teachers from SMK Limbanak. And recently, the principal was alleged to have initiated the transfer of another three Form Five teachers.

Source:
courtesy of THE BORNEO POST

by Amy Dangin

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