Islamic religious teachers in Selangor are not too happy with Menteri Besar Azmin Ali’s announcement yesterday that the allowance for Kelas Agama dan Fardu Ain (Kafa) educators would not be raised this year.
One such teacher, Akhsan Bukharee Badarul Hisham, told Sinar Harian that he felt Azmin’s comments on the matter were insulting to Kafa teachers, who he said regularly go above and beyond to better serve their schools.
“Kafa teachers who teach morning sessions check in at 7.30am and work until 12.30 in the afternoon. Those who handle afternoon sessions start working at 1pm and leave at 6pm. Where did Azmin Ali get the idea that we only teach for two, three hours a day?”
Yesterday, Azmin explained his state govermnent’s decision not to raise the cap on Kafa educators’ allowances to up to RM1,500 because “they only work between two to three hours a day”.
He did however say that the state treasury might raise the allowance next year, according to the needs of the teaching community in Selangor.
“The state government has already agreed on principle that the allowance should be raised, but we have to implement it in accordance to how many teachers there are in the state, and we need to work with the budget allocated to that end.
“The matter needs to be scrutinised, as this is the rakyat‘s money that will be spent, and it needs to be spent wisely,” he said yesterday.
Ekhsan was not having any of it.
“I dare him (Azmin) to come down to the schools and have a dialogue with Kafa teachers,” he said.
The teacher also stressed that raising the Kafa educators’ allowance was part of the Pakatan Rakyat manifesto in the run-up to the 13th General Elections in 2013, but with Azmin’s new decision, that promise has shapen up to be nothing more than a dangling carrot.
During the GE13 campaign, Pakatan Rakyat promised Kafa teachers that their allowance would be upped from RM1,300 to RM1,500 a month.
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