Freeze the teacher training programmes of private institutions of higher learning until the issue of 7,000 unemployed trainee teachers from these institutions is resolved by the government, PKR says.

This has to be done because the government has not shown any move to resolve the problem of jobless trainee teachers, PKR director of strategy Rafizi Ramli said today.

NONE Rafizi said Deputy Education Minister Puad Zarkashi and Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin have been issuing conflicting statements on the problem.

Puad had confirmed that 7,000 teacher graduates from private institutions have not gained employment, and they were in the process of resolving it.

“At the same time Muhyiddin said the Education Ministry had decided that teacher graduates from public institutions would be called for interview, whereas there are many more from private institutions who are unemployed,” he said.

The majority of the graduate teachers came from Universiti Tun Abdul Razak (Unitar), which is managed by Yayasan Pintar.

Yayasan Pintar is chaired by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, with Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein being among its officials.

Others are Umno supreme council members Mustapa Mohamed, who is also a minister, and Mohd Ali Rustam.

"By taking a teacher's course in private institutions, the students expect to be assured of a job. However, this is not the case. The unemployed graduates have complained to Umno, which has failed to resolve this, and they are now coming to us.

"They have to pay their PTPTN loans of between RM20,000 and RM30,0000 but are jobless. There is no proper coordination by the Higher Education Ministry and the Education Ministry in resolving this issue," emphasised Rafizi.

‘Where is Umno’s morality?’

“Where is the morality of the Umno leaders who wash their hands with regard to the Unitar graduates not getting jobs, whereas the university had abetted with the Higher Education Ministry to offer the course and they know there is no vacancy,” he said.

Rafizi said the graduates who had met Umno earlier to try and resolve the issue had been disheartened and had approached PKR.

He said the government should help resolve the issue.

Meanwhile, PKR graduates association president Haziq Abdul Aziz, that Najib’s credibility is at stake as he had failed to resolve the issue.

“Unitar teacher graduates are not given an opportunity to apply for vacancies in the Education Ministry and work in government schools. This is despite the Malaysian Accreditation Council recognising that the degree offered by Unitar and the syllabus is the same as that offered in Teachers Training Institutes.

“The Education Ministry and Higher Education Ministry are the parties responsible in this as the latter had given the approval to Unitar to offer the course but could not give assurance of them gaining employment. Why did the Higher Education Ministry offer the course when it could not give an assurance of them gaining employment?

Haziq urged that private teacher graduates be given equal opportunities to gain employment in government schools, that the government should resolve the situation and employment should be based on merit.