Teacher who made rape joke transferred

PETALING JAYA: The teacher who was exposed by 17-year-old Ain Husniza Saiful Nizam for allegedly making rape jokes in class has been transferred to the state education department pending a police investigation.

The Education Ministry said the transfer was until the completion of the police investigation, adding that the next course of action would depend on the outcome of the probe.

“As a police report was lodged by the student on April 24 and an investigation is underway, we will not issue any statement during this period, ” the ministry said in a statement yesterday.

The statement also said that comments left under a Facebook post calling Noor Azimah a “hypocrite” and a “devil’s child” supposedly made using a Facebook account belonging to the school principal has been examined in detail.

“We understand that the principal has made a police report denying the comments and believes that her Facebook account was hacked, ” it added.

Ain Husniza, a SMK Puncak Alam student, made headlines after she lodged a police report against a male teacher for allegedly making rape jokes in class.

After her revelations went viral online, she received rape threats from a classmate.

Ain Husniza has since stopped attending school because she felt unsafe as the teacher was still at the school.

As a result, she received a warning of an expulsion letter by the school authorities.

The ministry said students’ school attendance was monitored via a system called Sistem Sahsiah Diri Murid.

It said that should a student not attend school for three consecutive days or 10 non-consecutive days without providing a reason, teachers, through this system, would issue the first warning of an expulsion letter to the parents.

“Between April 16 and April 30, the school issued six warning of expulsion letters.

“We want to stress that we always prioritise the safety and welfare of students and the entire school, ” it added.

In Shah Alam, police said they have completed their investigation into the case.

Selangor police chief Comm Datuk Arjunaidi Mohamed said they had referred the investigation papers to the Deputy Public Prosecutor’s office for further action.

“We will wait for further instruction, ” he told reporters yesterday.

Ain Husniza is also the teenager behind the #MakeSchoolASaferPlace movement.Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) president Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim applauded the girl for wanting schools to be a safer place.

“While it appears to be trivial to some, it is in reality a real problem in schools.

“If to this day no one has been successful in curbing sexual and rape jokes in schools, it implicitly implies that schools condone it.

“It then continues and manifests in adulthood and the workplace, ” she said.

Police statistics on cases of rape, molestation, incest and sexual harassment, she added, were staggering.

Noor Azimah questioned if these incidents might have stemmed from such a school culture over these years.

She added that it was timely for the Education Ministry to react to Ain Husniza’s cry for help, adding that “this is not just for her but for girls and boys from the past and in the present to ensure that it ends here and now”.