30/08/2025

SATURDAY | AUG 30, 2025

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‘Reduce stress for teachers to curb early retirement’

Over 1,300 on death row as of 2023 PETALING JAYA: A total of 1,314 inmates were on death row nationwide as of Dec 31, 2023, the Home Ministry revealed in a written reply to Parliament. Of the figure, 829 were Malaysians and 485 non-citizens. The majority were men at 1,192, while women accounted for 122. “By age, 64 inmates were aged under 30, 406 below 40, 496 below 50, 265 below 60 and 83 above 60. “Kajang Prison housed the highest number with 236 inmates, followed by Simpang Renggam with 139, Tapah with 124, Pokok Sena with 101 and Kluang with 99. “The remaining 615 were held in 19 other prisons nationwide,” it added. The ministry said most inmates were convicted under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act, accounting for 863 cases, followed by 422 convicted of murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code. Others were sentenced for gang robbery, firearms offences, kidnapping and crimes against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. The disclosure comes after Parliament approved the Abolition of Mandatory Death Penalty Bill in April 2023, giving judges discretion in sentencing instead of imposing capital punishment by default. Under the amendments passed, alternatives to the death penalty include whipping and imprisonment of between 30 and 40 years. – By QIRANA NABILLA MOHD RASHIDI cameras, deployment of more security personnel, improved lighting at high-risk areas and identifying accommodation deemed vulnerable.” – By QIRANA NABILLA MOHD RASHIDI Measures to boost safety of students PETALING JAYA: The Higher Education Ministry has proposed that structured Off-Campus Student Management Units be established, or dedicated portfolios be appointed, to enhance the safety of students at higher learning institutions. In a written reply to Parliament, the ministry had also outlined a series of measures to boost protection for students, including encouraging universities and colleges to engage regularly with local safety networks such as Rukun Tetangga, Community Crime Watch groups, joint management bodies of apartments or condominiums and police. “Institutions have been advised to rent off-campus accommodation en bloc (dedicated blocks) for students rather than mixing them with public residents, to ensure better safety control and monitoring. “Other measures include the installation of additional closed-circuit television

o Many burdened with irrelevant clerical work and digitalisation tasks while poor management adds to frustration: NUTP

Ű BY QIRANA NABILLA MOHD RASHIDI newsdesk@thesundaily.com

PETALING JAYA: Amid rising concerns over early teacher retirements, the National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) has urged the government to establish a special committee to study ways to make schools more conducive and free from excessive stress. Its secretary-general Fouzi Singon said independent assessments of teachers’ emotional well-being should be carried out to accurately gauge stress levels among educators and students. “NUTP is not convinced that teachers’ loss of interest is the main factor behind early retirements. “Instead, many senior teachers had expressed willingness to continue teaching if they were not burdened with irrelevant clerical work and digitalisation tasks, which have little impact on student performance,” he told theSun. Fouzi said low-impact programmes and unresolved issues such as exam invigilation allowances and the absence of promised assistant teachers have further added to frustration. He also raised concerns over the quality of newly recruited teachers, warning that mass intake without proper screening could affect future standards. “The increase in trainee recruitment will only take effect after five years, which is not enough, and mismatched postings are creating more challenges,” he said. According to Fouzi, poor school management is another major factor pushing teachers to leave. “Many administrators fail to act as good human resource managers. This creates emotional stress, and when teachers are unhappy, schools become unconducive,” he said. He added that NUTP has received

Azizie said to retain teachers, greater support is needed in the form of digital infrastructure, special allowances for those serving in remote areas, mental health initiatives and continuous upskilling. – AMIRUL SYAFIQ/THESUN

initiatives and continuous upskilling. “The Education Ministry has moved in the right direction. “However, policies on workload, career development and incentives should be reviewed while teacher recruitment is increased,” he said. Malaysian Association for Education president Dr Mohd Majid Konting expressed a similar view, pointing out that the annual average of 5,594 early retirements from 2022 to 2024 represented only 1.34% of the teaching force, a level comparable to other professions. He added that while teachers may face difficulties with policy implementation, policies themselves are necessary to guide the profession. “Good policies should address classroom realities. The challenge is whether teachers and their leadership chain at central, state, district and school levels can understand and implement them strategically.” Mohd Majid added that Malaysia must invest in continuous professional development to sustain a strong teaching workforce. “If we believe teachers are sine qua non (essential) to education, then we must strengthen both pre-service training and ongoing professional development to ensure they remain effective and efficient throughout their careers.”

numerous complaints from teachers about pressure from school management, with some administrators described as lacking empathy and being undemocratic in handling staff matters. “Such unprofessional and emotionally driven decisions have negatively affected both teachers and parents. “In some cases, frustration has even resulted in public displays of protest through banners,” he said. “However, with no effective mechanism in place to address these issues, many teachers have been left demoralised, contributing to the rising trend of early retirements.” Meanwhile, Congress of Unions of Teachers in the Malaysian Education Service secretary-general Azizie Hassan downplayed concerns of a crisis, saying the early retirement rate was only about 1% to 2% compared with the overall teaching workforce. “Most teachers remain committed to their profession. However, if retirements continue at a higher rate, it could affect the teaching workforce in core and STEM subjects, particularly in rural schools where gaps in literacy and numeracy are more pronounced.” Azizie said to retain teachers, greater support is needed in the form of digital infrastructure, special allowances for those serving in remote areas, mental health

More than 42,000 misleading AI-related postings removed since 2022

Ű BY FAIZ RUZMAN newsdesk@thesundaily.com

punishable under the Section 233(1) of Act 588. To combat such cases, the ministry said the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) was set up as part of a “whole of government” approach, led by police in collaboration with MCMC, the Communications Ministry, Home Ministry and Bank Negara Malaysia. The NSRC functions as a centralised response hub and has conducted 11 awareness programmes as of July 1 this year, with 19 more planned. “Recognising that online safety is not solely the government’s responsibility, MCMC also launched the Safe Internet Campaign (Kempen Internet Selamat) on Jan 21 to raise public awareness and prevent online crimes.”

safety issues, with membership comprising stakeholders, including licensed service providers. In a separate reply to Jeli MP Zahari Kechik, the ministry said between Jan 1, 2022 and Aug 15, 2025, a total of 123,038 scam-related content and 337,715 gambling related content were removed by telecommunication and network providers following requests from MCMC. Over the same period, MCMC also applied for the blocking of 5,599 online gambling and scam websites at the request of police. “This action was taken due to violations of the provisions of Act 588, other relevant laws, as well as the community guidelines of the platform providers,” the ministry said, adding that the offence will also be

exceeding two years, or both, and a further fine of RM5,000 for each day the offence continues,” the ministry said. They also reminded Parliament of the Online Safety Act 2025, which was published in May this year. The Act was introduced to regulate harmful content and impose obligations on apps and network service providers. In response to the number of cases, MCMC is studying the requirement for social media platforms to label content automatically generated using AI, to help users identify potentially misleading or manipulative material. The ministry added that the government will establish an Online Safety Committee, chaired by the law minister, to advise MCMC on online

guidelines and compliance with local laws. Beyond enforcement, MCMC has strengthened public access to fact-checking resources through the Sebenarnya.my portal and its artificial intelligence-based chatbot, the Fact-check Assistant. The reply noted that amendments to the Multimedia and Communications Act 1998 (Act 588) explicitly make it an offence to spread false content with fraudulent intent. “In line with the amendment to Section 233(1) of Act 588, the dissemination of false content with the intent to commit fraud or deception against any person constitutes an offence punishable by a fine not exceeding RM500,000, imprisonment of a term not

PETALING JAYA: Social media platforms have removed over 42,000 misleading artificial intelligence (AI)-related postings involving deepfake technology since 2022. This follows requests from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), said the Communications Ministry. In a Dewan Rakyat written reply on Aug 28 to Datuk Seri Jalaluddin Alias (Jelebu-BN), the ministry said between Jan 1, 2022 and Aug 15, 2025, service providers removed 1,005 deepfake investment scam postings and 41,394 false postings. The ministry said takedown actions remain subject to each platform’s internal community