KOTA KINABALU: Parents are up in arms against a school principal in Telipok, some 21km from here, whom they claimed had been sending text messages with sexual or suggestive content to students.
A parent, who did not want to be identified, said her 14-year-old son was among one of the recipients of such text messages.
“We lodged a report earlier this month, urging the authorities to investigate the matter.
“But nothing seems to be moving, ” she said, adding that most of the texts from the principal, said to be in his early 50s, were still being kept by them.
The parent said a lawyer advised her to bring the matter to the press.
She also claimed that the school authorities had pressured some parents to withdraw their reports and to settle the matter internally.
“I was made to understand that some parents have retracted their reports while others refused to go to the authorities after lengthy discussions with the school staff.
“For now, apart from me, there is another parent who is adamant about taking this case to court, ” said the mother of three.
The parent also said her son was now afraid of going to school.
Lawyer Valentino James Tanggar, who is helping the parents pro bono, urged the authorities to carry out an investigation.
State Education Department director Mistirine Radin said they were conducting an internal inquiry.“We are also working closely with the police in this case, ” she said.The principal was said to have been texting male students over the past couple of months, starting with innocent questions before getting more intimate in the messages.
He was also alleged to have offered them gifts if they did well in their exams and to bring them out for movies and dinner.
