Mohd Fadhli Salleh, better known as ‘Cikgu Fadli’, has been issued with a warning letter – threatening dismissal or demotion – from Malaysia’s Ministry of Education for voicing out his concerns about the education system.
He said in a Facebook post on Oct. 15 that he was slapped with a warning after saying the mathematics syllabus was too advanced for primary school students.
The mathematics teacher at Sekolah Kebangsaan (1) Gombak also highlighted that there is simply not enough time for teachers to be able to cover the entire syllabus.
“I was only speaking honestly. The syllabus is too dense and advanced. There are too many students in each class and they have to learn many other subjects, so the time spent on core subjects, such as mathematics is too short.
“Why does the education ministry want to sack me? Is it because I am speaking the truth? They can’t handle the truth. They only want to hear flattery and compliments,” he said in the post.
In his defense, he had already gone through the proper channels to raise the matter only for it to fall on deaf ears.
He even raised the matter during the syllabus upgrading session for mathematics at the district education office in Gombak, which involved over 30 mathematics teachers and officers.
“They told me, ‘you need to use the right channels, not Facebook’,” he said.
He claimed that even the ministry’s officers from the curriculum development division could not answer his queries on the syllabus.
The letter of possible dismissal or demotion from the ministry reads as:
Your actions may be interpreted as having contravened Regulation 19(1)(c), Public Officers (Conduct and Discipline) Regulations 1993 which provide as follows: A public officer shall not, orally or in writing in any other way make comments about weakness of any Government policy, plan or decision. If you are found guilty of the above charges, you may be subject to any one or any combination of two or more penalties specified in Regulation 38, Public Officers (Conduct and Discipline) Regulations 1993
In the letter, the ministry also highlighted some of Cikgu Fadli’s comments on social media as evidence of his supposed “rebellion”.
The teacher’s post has since gone viral on social media. At the time of writing, the post gained more than 98,000 shares and more than 200,000 likes. Many social media users commented on the post in solidarity with Cikgu Fadli.
It also managed to gain the attention of the caretaker prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and his education minister, Radzi Jidin, who extended an invitation to Cikgu Fadli to hear of his grievances.
Meanwhile, Education Director General Pkharuddin Ghazali said the warning sent to Cikgu Fadli is not meant to be a final verdict. He noted that the letter’s intent was to instruct the teacher to submit a written explanation on the matter.
