Truant teacher: Witness says taught two-year syllabus in 10 months

The court today heard that the actions of a teacher who allegedly skipped class for seven months not only affected students but other teachers as well.

Hasanah Kassim, a teacher at SMK Taun Gusi, said she had to teach a two-year syllabus in 10 months due to Jainal Jamran not attending class for seven months in 2015.

“Because the students I accepted from Form 4 up to Form 5 did not have training books at all, I had to cover (teach) the syllabus for two years in less than 10 months,” she said at the Kota Kinabalu High Court in Sabah today.

Hasanah is the plaintiff’s 11th witness in the lawsuit against Jainal by a former SMK Taun Gusi student Siti Nafirah Siman on charges of skipping class.

When questioned by the plaintiff’s lawyer, Hasanah also said she made a verbal report to the head of the school’s English Committee Norhana Idek regarding Jainal’s failure to attend class.

She added that when news of the case went viral in 2018, Norhana borrowed her Daily Lesson Plan (RPH) book on the grounds that Jainal failed to complete his RPH.

When commenting on Jainal’s character, Hasanah said the teacher was a cheerful person.

However, there were said to have been misunderstandings between them three times for reasons unknown, which angered Jainal.

“Among the things he used to do was slam books on the table, slam doors, and shout in public, for example in the parking lot and the canteen. He also spat, and when he did that last thing I informed my husband,” Hasanah said.

However, she said Jainal once apologised to her after the lawsuit filed by Nafirah went viral.

The legal action

Nafirah was a Class 4 Commerce student (4PD) at SMK Taun Gusi in 2015.

On Oct 30, 2018, she filed a suit against Jainal for allegedly missing classes for seven months in 2015.

Apart from Jainal, she also named the principal of the school at the time of the case, SMK Taun Gusi, the Kota Belud district education officer, the Sabah education director, the director-general of education, the education minister and the Malaysian government as defendants.

She alleged that Jainal’s failure to show up to teach English in class, as well as the second defendant’s failure to take reasonable steps to address the matter, resulted in the 4PD students not being prepared to face examinations prescribed under the Education Act 1996.

The trial of the case before judge Ismail Brahim will continue tomorrow.

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