KUCHING: A majority of the parents will start worrying if teachers are allowed to be involved in politics.
President of the Association of the Boards of Management of Aided Primary Schools in Kuching, Samarahan and Serian, Datuk Jonathan Chai said with the current divisive and antagonistic nature of politics in this country any involvement of teachers in politics might give rise to political propaganda in schools.
He said the adversarial political beliefs and ideologies among the teachers might even cause unwanted tension in the staff room and this could hurt the noble purpose of education in the long term.
"Teachers play a pivotal role in the mental and physical development of students, and I believe that most parents would start to worry if teachers have to divide their time and energy for another cause other than their teaching profession.
"We simply cannot expect teachers who opt to get involved actively in politics to devote themselves with sufficient time and energy for the wellbeing of their students," he told the New Straits Times.
Chai said with the implementation of Undi18 and automatic voter registration, the role of teachers to guide and help students attain political maturity is much more important than ever before.
"If some of these teachers are actively involved in politics, how can we expect them to remain impartial in doing a proper job by instilling the right values and political knowledge to the younger generations in schools?
"Teachers need to educate and enable the youths to take part in the democratic process by making a sensible choice in the election which will affect the direction of our country and its future," he said.
Chai was commenting on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob's announcement that all teachers under the Education Ministry staff of the Community Development Department (Kemas) are allowed to get involved in politics with immediate effect.
Though the policy looks like it will go ahead, he is hopeful that it could be debated and deliberated first in the Parliament or even within the larger part of society before it's implemented as such a move would have far-reaching implications to the educational system as a whole.
"It remains to be seen as to what extent of involvement is allowed, hopefully, there would still be guidelines to prevent any unfettered attempts of any teachers to turn the schools into a potential political battleground," he said.
Chai also questioned the rationale of only allowing teachers and Kemas staff to get involved in politics while the civil servants in other departments or ministries will on the outside.
"I still think that civil servants should remain politically neutral and impartial and if they want to declare their political preference openly by involving themselves in politics actively, then they should relinquish their job in civil service."
"Civil servants owe their allegiance and should pledge their loyalty to the country and the King, and not to any political party," he added.
