Anwar pressures Radzi on period spot checks, teacher’s rape joke
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has urged Education Minister Radzi Jidin to take decisive action to put a stop to period spot checks and rape culture in schools.
It has been 14 days since Malaysiakini published accounts of women who said they were groped in school to physically prove they were on their periods.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has urged Education Minister Radzi Jidin to take decisive action to put a stop to period spot checks and rape culture in schools.
It has been 14 days since Malaysiakini published accounts of women who said they were groped in school to physically prove they were on their periods.
It has been 12 days since Ain Husniza Saiful Nizam called out a male teacher for “jokingly” telling boys in her high school class to target adults if they wanted to rape women.
Speaking at an online forum with Ain and political cartoonist Zunar this evening, Anwar questioned why no action had been taken against the male teacher in question.
“I urge the headteacher, teachers, the Education Ministry and the minister, who has been rather lembap (ineffective), to take action on this one case.
“Why has this dragged on for so long?
“The ministry must make a stance to stop such instances from happening again and ensure it will not treat cases that affect student morals lightly,” he said.
Ain’s TikTok video about her teacher has since ignited a movement to demand the government make schools a safer place.
Read more: Teen who exposed teacher's 'rape jokes': I'm doing this for every student, not just me
However, she has also received rape threats and sexual harassment for speaking up.
The 17-year-old has since stopped attending classes because she feels unsafe. The male teacher in question continues to work at her school.
Today, the Port Dickson MP criticised the ministry for failing to defend Ain against the abuse.
“They should not have allowed her to face these ‘side effects' to the point she is scared to attend school. This problem should have been addressed and not be allowed to drag on for two weeks.
“Is it her fault that she isn’t attending school? This is not right,” Anwar said, adding that students should instead be encouraged to speak up like Ain.
The police are presently investigating Ain’s teacher after she lodged a police report against him.
Radzi previously promised a thorough probe into whether her allegations were true, stressing that teachers who joke about rape are not to be tolerated.
Period checks not warranted
Meanwhile, Anwar also criticised the “crazy” practice of period spot checks at certain schools when asked about it during the forum.
The former education minister urged the ministry to eradicate these invasive checks.
“This is a crazy practice. No one ever did this in all of Islam’s 1,400 years of history.
“There must be action not only to stop this but to penalise (those who conduct such checks),” he exclaimed.
“Do the ends justify the means? I think this is an insane practice,” he added.
Women previously told Malaysiakini that they had to show their blood-stained sanitary pads, do swabs of their vagina or have a teacher, warden, or school prefect pat them down at the groin to feel whether they were wearing a sanitary pad.
These checks were to verify if they were on their period and thus be allowed to skip ritual prayers.
After Malaysiakini reported these women’s accounts, Radzi said the ministry had found no indication that the practice existed.
He also urged the public to inform him which schools subjected female students to such checks.
Malaysiakini has since submitted a list of 15 schools to the ministry where students said period spot checks happened.
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