Seri Pristana HM: I made no apology

PETALING JAYA: The headmaster of SK Seri Pristana, which was embroiled in a controversy two months ago over a changing room that was used as a temporary canteen, has denied he had apologised to parents over the matter.

“I never apologised to the parents as I consider the matter resolved,” said Mohd Nasir Mohd Noor, commenting on an online report that he had made the apology during a parent-teacher association meeting at the school on Monday.

State education director Mahmud Karim was present at the meeting.

Mohd Nasir added that the school’s administration has since renovated the canteen while the changing room was no longer in use.

The controversy surfaced during Ramadan, when a parent posted photos on Facebook of pupils eating at the makeshift canteen, giving rise to allegations that non-Muslim pupils were forced to spend their recess in the shower room during the fasting month. The photos went viral.

The school had responded by saying that the changing room was used long before Ramadan by both Muslim and non-Muslim pupils as the canteen proper was being renovated.

School PTA chairman Hussein Mohd Ariff said he did not recall an apology being made.

“The parents wanted an explanation on the issue, and the school promised to release a circular so that those absent would still be in the loop,” he said.

Meanwhile, the mother who uploaded the pictures of the “changing-room cafeteria” controversy has refused to be drawn into anything involving the school as her daughter has since moved to another school.

“We have moved to a new school and are no longer related to it (SK Seri Pristana)”, Guneswari Kelly told The Star Online.

In Seremban, Education Minister II Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh advised parents and the school management to put the incident behind them and move on.

“It is sad that the incident had been blown out of proportion and into a racial one.

“There are some 450,000 teachers in service and there are bound to be problems. I am not saying teachers are correct all the time, but we must learn to put the past behind us,” he told reporters after opening the East West International College here.

He said the ministry was looking at several options, including transferring out the headmaster. On another incident in Rawang, Selangor, where a teacher had allegedly hit a Form Two student with a chair, Idris said it was also an isolated case.

He added that based on a report he received, the teacher had some personal problems while the student had disciplinary issues.

“But we will surely act against the teacher as what she did was wrong.”