Compiled by BENJAMIN LEE, C.ARUNO and R.ARAVINTAN
TWO teenagers in Johor, who were seen in a video torturing a hamster, have apologised for their behaviour, China Press reported.
The gave their word that they would not repeat such a misdeed.
The boys, who are from a a lion and dragon dance troupe, said that they regretted their action.
It was reported that the teenagers had filmed themselves dropping a hamster repeatedly on the ground and throwing it up in the air using a ping pong paddle.
They also put the hamster in a PVC pipe before blowing it out like a blowdart.
Throughout the video, the teenagers could be seen laughing at their own antics.
The video sparked an uproar on social media.
Many netizens called for the boys to be removed from the lion and dragon dance troupe.
> Sin Chew Daily ran a report quoting the United Chinese School Teachers Association (Jiao Zong) as saying that the perennial shortage of teachers in vernacular schools was due to the Chinese being uninterested in joining the teaching profession.
Its chairman Cheah Lek Aee acknowledged that being a teacher was not easy, adding that many Chinese youth were put off by the sacrifices required.
For example, he pointed out that teachers might have to accept postings to remote locations.
As such, he said the educationist group would work closely with the government to address the issue which has persisted for decades.
He noted that the Education Ministry had increased the placings for the Bachelor of Education programme specifically for Chinese vernacular schools from 784 in 2024 to 1,679 this year.
With Jiao Zong’s help in promoting the programme, the number of applicants rose from 4,311 last year to 6,296 this year.
Cheah also urged the government to reinstate a holiday programme on teacher training.
The programme was designed to allow temporary teachers to receive training during school holidays and become fully qualified teachers within a year.
(The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.)
