Teacher to be investigated over offensive post, says Sabah Education Dept director

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Education Department is investigating a teacher for making a distasteful comment about a disabled student.

State education director Datuk Raisin Saidin said that he is in process of gathering all facts over the issue which has gone viral in social media after the teacher allegedly referred to the child as "anak bongkok" with a picture of the boy in a parent-teacher WhatsApp group.

Though the message was deleted, a screenshot of the message was shared widely with the boy's father who had reported the complaint to the Education Ministry.

He is also expected to lodge a police report.

"After all the information has been collected, we will question the teacher involved," he said when contacted.

He said they would also talk to the parents of the student involved before making their decision on the action to be taken against the teacher.

"We will decide later," he said when asked if the department plans to immediately suspend the teacher pending the investigations.

Raisin said that his department took the matter "very seriously" and would not compromise such actions by any teacher.

He said that disabled children should be treated with care and it was unprofessional for any teacher to make offensive remarks.

Raisin also issued a fresh warning to all educationists under the department not to post offensive comments about students in the social media.

"We will take action," he said.