A Bizarre News ... Teachers now allowed to play politics!
Now, trained government teachers can engage in politics
He said the move was based on the fact that teachers, at one time, played an important role as community leaders in the country's political scenario.
"The time has come for them to be allowed to be active again in politics," he said in a statement.
For this purpose, he said, Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin had consented to an amendment to Regulation 21 of the Public Officers (Conduct and Discipline) Regulations 1993. Action was being taken to gazette the amendment to the regulation, he added.
Regulation 21(2) now states that only officers in the Support Group can contest or hold any position or be appointed to any post in any political party, on the condition that they obtain prior written approval from the director-general of the Public Service Department or the secretary-general of the relevant ministry.
Under the amended regulation, education officers, other than principals or headmasters and officers holding any administrative post in any government agency, have to obtain a prior written approval from the secretary-general of the Education Ministry.
"The secretary-general of the Education Ministry cannot delegate his authority to give the written approval to anyone, and any decision of the secretary-general of the Education Ministry is final," said Mohd Sidek.
He said tight conditions would be imposed to ensure that the primary duties and focus of the group, which was to educate children, were not affected by their involvement in politics.
He said those allowed to be involved in politics must adhere fully to the Public Officers (Conduct and Discipline) Regulations 1993. - Bernama
Malaysia Chronicle appends below some data on what the grades mean:
Teacher Preparation
There are many ways to be trained as a teacher as shown in the chart “Pathways to be a certified teacher in Malaysia”. Effective from January 2007, the various Institute of Education Malaysia are preparing only primary school teachers at the graduate and post-graduate level. Trained graduate teachers start at a salary scale of grade DG41, Level P1 and Step 2 or otherwise depending on their qualifications (refer Salary Scheme of Government Teachers).
Every year, if the teacher satisfies all specified conditions such as the performance level is above 80%, there is an increment in the same level to the next step, for example from P1T2 to P1T3 and so on. Within 1 to 3 years, a graduate teacher will be confirmed in the post as a Graduate Education Officer grade DG41.
He or she is now eligible to apply for the ‘Competency Level Evaluation” (Penilaian Tahap Kecekapan or PTK) course. To be eligible for a promotion to a higher grade, a teacher has to obtain a minimum level of 3 for both the coursework and written examinations. In addition, the teacher has to satisfy 3 other conditions; yearly performance level must be above 80%, be recommended by the principal/headmaster to the post and there are vacancies for the post. If the teacher passes the course at level 4 for the coursework and level 4 for the written examination, he or she will move to a higher level P2 and later to P3 respectively in the same grade.
After 10 years of teaching in the same grade, the teacher qualifies for ‘Time-Scale promotion’ and satisfying all specified conditions, he or she is promoted to grade DG44. The teacher can also be promoted to an administrative post at a higher grade based on recommendation and vacancies for the post. This cycle of taking PTK and satisfying all specified conditions is adhered for promotion to higher scales such as grade DG48, DG52, DG54, Special Grade or Jusa and so on.
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