PKR lambasted Prime Minister Mohd Najib Abdul Razak’s “vague” plan to import English teachers from India as detrimental to the thousands of unemployed local Bachelor of Education (B Ed) and TESL (Teaching of English as a Second Language) graduates from private universities.

“It would make more sense for the government to hire local graduates in TESL... (there are) many Bachelor of Education graduates particularly from private universities, who are unable to work in national schools,” said the party’s director of information Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad in a statement.

“The prime minister simply announced the intention without providing a strong reason that importing English teachers from India to Malaysia would add any value to our education system.”

He was responding to Najib’s announcement during his recent Indian trip, of Malaysia’s interest in hiring English teachers from the country for our national schools.

NONE Nik Nazmi ( right ) quoted Deputy Education Minister Puad Zarkashi, who confirmed in April that 7,000 Bachelor of Education graduates were still jobless, and many are from private universities who not even called for interviews in spite of possessing good results.

“In fact, last year, TESL graduates sponsored by the Ministry of Education itself complained of not being provided placements even after six months of waiting,” added the Seri Setia assemblyperson.

Even without foreign teachers to compete with, he argued that private B Ed graduates face difficulties getting jobs outside national schools, as private schools prefer expatriate or experienced teachers while non-school employers are reluctant to hire them.

“Many of these graduates end up as working as tuition teachers without the stability and certainty of being a teacher in national schools.”

He criticised the “perverse” education policy of the current government which he claimed saw private universities continue to offer B Ed programs and churn out graduates contributing to the glut of the unemployed.

“Importing teachers from India will only make the situation more serious than it already is.”

Nik Nazmi proposed that the government instead employ capable B Ed graduates and do not discriminate between public and private B Ed graduates when hiring teachers.

Earlier today, PKR’s student wing president Haziq Abdul Aziz announced at a press conference in Petaling Jaya that the new party wing will be sending a memorandum to the Education Ministry over what he felt are discriminatory practices in the hiring of teachers which are prejudicial to B Ed graduates from private universities.