Chong: Don’t judge teacher till probe is over

SEREMBAN: Don’t make any judgments against the teacher who had allegedly accused 14-year-old M. Vasantha Piriya of stealing her handphone.

Deputy Education Minister Datuk Chong Sin Woon, who said this, added the police should be allowed to complete their probe and the ministry would take it from there.

“Let’s not make our own conclusions and accuse the teacher of being a murderer.

“We (the ministry) will carry out our own investigation once the police have completed theirs.

“We have moved the teacher temporarily to the district education office. Let me assure you that we will get to the bottom of this,” he said when met at his service centre here.

The Form Two student died at Seberang Jaya Hospital in Penang at 3.35am on Thursday, a week after she was found barely breathing in her room following an attempted suicide. She then slipped into a coma and never regained consciousness.

On Jan 24, her teacher at SMK Methodist Nibong Tebal alleged that Vasantha Piriya had stolen her iPhone 6 at the school.

The teacher had reportedly reprimanded the girl in front of her classmates and later questioned her for hours with several other teachers before she and her husband sent the student home.

The girl left a note denying the allegation and told her parents that no one should be held responsible for her death.

On a separate matter, Chong said a Chinese New Year bazaar will be held at Moi Kong Association in Temiang, near here, from Feb 8 to 11.

He added that there will be performances at the bazaar which will be open from 3pm to 10pm daily.