SUNGKAI, Jan 25 — The parents of two Year Four pupils in Perak have lodged police reports against a school teacher for forcing their children to wear cow bells around their necks for not doing their homework, a news report said today.

The two boys, Muhammad Naswinder Muhammad Hamid and Mohamad Izat Iqbal Mohd Harith, claimed that the SJKC Khai Meng teacher had also threatened to cane them unless they ate grass from the school field, the Star Online news portal said.

Naswinder’s uncle, Muktasim Hashim, said the teacher had gone overboard in disciplining the children.

“He had caned the boys twice each before that, but chose to humiliate them by making them wear bells around their necks and calling them cows in front of the class,” he said.

Advertisement

“If that was not bad enough, he took pictures of them on his mobile phone and threatened to post them on Facebook before asking the boys to eat grass or get another 10 strokes of the rotan,” Muktasim was quoted as saying today.

While the boys were eventually spared from eating grass, Muktasim said his family was demanding that the teacher be transferred to another school.

“The teacher apologised when we met him at the police station yesterday but that is insufficient and in no way remedies the situation.

Advertisement

“We want him transferred out immediately.”

Mohamad Izat’s mother, Yarnis Kasuma Dewi Zainal Ariffin, said she will refuse to transfer her son to another school, and demanded that the teacher be penalised for his actions.

“Why should (Izat) be penalised and denied the chance at an education in the Chinese medium due to someone else's mistake?” she asked, adding that SJKC Khai Meng was the only Chinese primary school in the area.

Tanjung Malim MP Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan said he has spoken to the school’s headmistress, who admitted that the pupils were asked to wear the bells around the necks. She said the teacher has apologised for the incident, and declined to comment further.