KUALA LUMPUR: The proposal for dedicated school warden posts will need thorough consideration as the government still relies on teachers in the place of parents in boarding schools, says Wong Kah Woh.
The Deputy Education Minister said that creating such posts would involve designing a new recruitment structure and consulting the relevant federal agencies.
“At present, the Education Ministry emphasises the role of wardens under the in loco parentis approach, where teachers act in the place of parents in school hostels.
“The ministry believes this approach remains relevant and suitable for current needs,” he told the Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday (Dec 3).
He was responding to Datuk Wan Saifulruddin Wan Jan (PN–Tasek Gelugor), who asked whether the ministry plans to appoint or expand the role of student management assistants to also serve as hostel wardens.
A total of 10,214 wardens have been appointed by the ministry in boarding schools nationwide as of September, comprising both teachers and non-teaching staff.
He said 9,428 of the wardens are teachers, while the remaining 786 are non-teaching staff.
Wong added that the ministry will appoint 600 full-time hostel wardens under the Malaysia Short-Term Employment Program (MySTEP) across boarding schools nationwide.
He said the initiative is part of efforts to enhance safety in hostels and reduce the workload of existing wardens.
“To ease the burden on teachers serving as wardens, the ministry began appointing non-teaching staff at Grade 1 and above as wardens in 2019,” he said.
Wong explained that the in loco parentis concept places responsibility on wardens to look after students’ welfare, safety, education, and discipline, while guiding their character development and instilling good values.
He added that appointing teachers as wardens also increases the confidence and trust of both students and parents in the management of school hostels.
