Deputy minister: No plan to review RM300 warden allowance for teachers

PARLIAMENT | An RM300 allowance for boarding school teachers who double as hostel wardens is unlikely to be reviewed anytime soon, the Dewan Rakyat heard today.

Deputy Education Minister Wong Kah Woh explained that this was because the amount had already been reviewed recently.

"A review of the allowance was done around 2021 or 2022. Perhaps I can provide the specifics in a written answer to Kuala Krai later," he said during the oral question and answer session this morning.

The Taiping MP was responding to a supplementary question posed by Abdul Latif Abdul Rahman (PN-Kuala Krai).

The opposition lawmaker wanted to know how the ministry plans to address the issue of additional workloads put on boarding school teachers who are appointed as hostel wardens.

Latif also asked whether the ministry would consider appointing full-time professional counsellors at the schools or have former armed forces personnel as wardens.

Wong told the august house that the ministry had taken several steps to ease the burden of school teachers and wardens.

This includes exempting teachers appointed as wardens from certain school duties, such as being class teachers, teaching during the first period, and reducing their involvement in co-curricular activities.

"At the same time, the ministry has also announced on Oct 22 that, as part of its initiative to strengthen the hostel warden system, 600 warden assistants will be appointed from among MyStep personnel.

"This is aimed at increasing the monitoring of boarding school students' safety and easing the burden of the existing hostel wardens," Wong added.

Mental health training

The deputy minister said all schools' discipline and counselling teachers would also be equipped with adequate training to handle bullying cases and detect early signs of mental health issues among students.

On top of this, the ministry is also carrying out mental health screenings on Standard 5 and 6 primary school pupils and secondary school students.

It was previously reported that the ministry had reviewed the allowances for chief wardens and wardens in 2022, which saw the payments increased by 25 percent to RM350 and RM300, respectively.

Before that, the last time it was reportedly reviewed was in 1997.

Reporting by Hariz Mohd, Alyaa Alhadjri and N Faizal Ghazali

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