Education Minister Mahdzir Khalid has promised to address the plight of a group of school security guards whose wages are being withheld by a private firm appointed by his ministry.

“I am getting information from Selangor (education department) this evening, we must solve this.

“How can this happen, it is not according to the rules and procedures,” he told journalists after launching an interactive textbook in Bangsar today.

Yesterday, a group of security guards from 10 schools around Hulu Langat submitted a memorandum to the Human Resources Ministry asking for help to claim their outstanding wages.

However, they were told that the issue is under the purview of the Education Ministry which disburses payments to the security firm it had hired.

PSM activist S Arutchelvan, who had represented the group, said they were informed that the Education Ministry, through the Hulu Langat education department, had already disbursed payment to the contractor.

However the security guards under the contractor have yet to see their wages.

Their also claimed that the company had flouted minimum wage laws.