The teacher who was suspected of molesting at least nine students should have been placed at the District Education Office and not transferred to another school.

National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) president Kamarozaman Abd Razak said this would be apt in easing the situation.

And being in another school would only affect the teacher’s dignity as the community at the new school may come to know of the allegations made against the teacher.

“The teacher would think that he is not being protected,” Kamarozaman told Malaysiakini.

He, however, said there is a possibility that the teacher himself had wanted to be transferred to another school.

“What the Education Ministry director-general did was right, there’s no problem (to transfer the teacher to another school).

“But to pacify the situation, the teacher should have been placed at the District Education Office.”

But the decision to transfer the teacher, said Kamarozaman, would not have been made on the discretion of the Education Ministry alone.

“There must be consensus between the school, parents of the students involved, the police and the teacher in question.

“Because the teacher would have been asked to defend himself. So the teacher can’t blame the director-general as it was a decision made by consensus,” said Kamarozaman.

Apart from being transferred to another school, the teacher in question is currently under the observation of the District Education Office and the state Education Department.

Education Minister Mahdzir Khalid had said that the ministry will work closely with the police to solve the case.

The move to transfer the teacher appears to be in line with the ministry's procedures as detailed by Mahdzir in a written parliamentary reply last Wednesday.

In May it was reported that a teacher at a Tamil primary school in Hulu Selangor had been acting inappropriately with girls studying there.

One of his alleged victims complained to the headmaster, who then informed the state Education Department.