Instead of scrapping allowances for trainee teachers, there should be more incentives for those in the teaching profession, says DAP's Bukit Bendera MP Zairil Khir Johari.

“The government should immediately review its flawed proposal and scrap plans to abolish the living and travelling allowances of trainee teachers.

“If anything, the teaching profession should be further incentivised in order to attract better talents.

“If the quality of education in our schools is to be improved, then the quality of teachers has to be given the utmost priority,” Zairil, who is also DAP's parliamentary spokesperson for education, science and technology, said in a statement today.

It is even more outrageous, he added, to replace the allowances for trainee teachers with PTPTN loans, as this would drive away potential teachers and add on to the burden of trainee teachers.

It was previously reported that the Education Ministry is still in talks with PTPTN on turning the cost of living allowance of trainee teachers into a loan for next year’s intake.

Zairil claimed that this showeds the government was prepared to sacrifice the future of the country to cover up its own wrongdoings.

“Instead of addressing the rampant wastages, corruption and financial scandals that continue to drain the resources of our nation, the government prefers to punish critical sectors such as education,” he said.

Even though education expenditure still takes up the bulk of the government’s annual budget, he said the actual spending priorities are “highly questionable”.

He pointed to “elephant projects” such as YTL’s 1BestariNet, to which billions of ringgit have been channelled to, while necessities such as the teacher development budget have been slashed continuously.

“Unfortunately, while the much-vaunted Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 pays lip service to the need to improve the quality of teachers, the government appears to be doing the exact opposite,” Zairil added.