All's well after parties in schoolgirl caning incident reconcile

JOHOR BARU: The parties involved in an incident in a caning incident have agreed to reconcile after a meeting here.

In the incident, footage of a woman speaking with a teacher and photographs of the schoolgirl with red welts on her arms and legs went viral, allegedly after she was caned.

The schoolgirl, her mother and the teacher involved in the incident had a closed-door meeting at the Johor Education Department's district office (PPD) here on Thursday (June 27), together with state Education, Human Resource, Science and Technology Committee chairman Aminolhuda Hassan and state Education Director Azman Adnan.

Aminolhuda advised all parties not to prolong the issue.

He added that the Johor Education Department was concerned that teachers may be affected by the incident and the public outcry over the incident.

"In order to ensure that the solution is fair, the department should not set aside the existing rules and to take into account the welfare aspects of both parties, namely teachers and students," he said in a statement after the meeting.

He also called on all schools and educators to understand the rules and laws and not to act emotionally when disciplining students and to strengthen high-impact activities for the students' well-being.

"We would like to thank the Johor Baru PPD and the school for their quick action in holding consensus sessions, including the withdrawal of police reports.

Aminolhuda said the teacher had openly apologised to the student and the mother for his actions and the school had been reminded to ensure these kinds of incidents do not recur.

"The police will still continue the investigation until it is completed," he added.