SEBERANG PERAI, Feb 2 — Did the teacher who accused Form Two student Vasanthapiriya Muniandy of stealing her handphone and who had her locked away in a room in school for several hours follow standard protocol for disciplinary cases?
Or did the teacher’s actions and threats against Vasanthapiriya, who later attempted to commit suicide, grossly contravene existing school policies?
According to a former teacher who spoke on condition of anonymity, the standard operating procedure (SOP) in handling disciplinary issues in SMK Methodist Nibong Tebal is to always to refer the case to the school session supervisor and disciplinary teacher.
He said that if the case occurred during the afternoon session, then it should be referred to the afternoon session supervisor.
“The supervisor and the disciplinary teacher can then investigate the case but the person involved, such as the teacher whose handphone was missing, must not be involved in the investigation,” he told Malay Mail.
Vasanthapiriya was a student at SMK Methodist Nibong Tebal.
The ex-teacher explained that the supervisor and disciplinary teacher may talk to the student involved, but not interrogate her for hours.
“If it is a female student, only a female disciplinary teacher can talk to her about the case and male teachers should not be involved,” he said, adding that if the case could not be resolved, the next step would be for the supervisor to contact the student’s parents and meet with them in the school.
He stressed that in Vasanthapiriya’s case, the school’s SOP was not adhered to as she was allegedly questioned by four teachers and then locked in a room for five hours, before she was taken home to her parents.
“The school’s SOP is clear. Teachers are not allowed to take any student out of the school without the parents’ consent.
“Even if a student was injured, they need to inform the parents first before they can send the student to hospital for treatment,” the former teacher said.
In this incident, the teacher and her husband drove Vasanthapiriya home and spoke to her parents on January 24.
Refer case to higher school authority
Retired teachers and principals who weighed in on this issue agree that the SOP for such cases was for it to be referred to the school disciplinary teacher, the principal or the school disciplinary board.
Retired disciplinary teacher Datin Mary John, 60, who previously taught in SMK (P) Taman Petaling and SMK (P) Sri Aman, said the disciplinary teacher would be the one investigating such cases, by calling in witnesses before taking further action.
According to retired principal Azizah Mohamad, 67, the complainant must first submit a written report to the principal on any disciplinary case before the student accused of the crime is called in.
“The complainant need not be present during this session and if the accused admits, we will close investigation, proceed with notifying the parents and decide on punishments,” she said.
She said the teachers or those on the school disciplinary board have no authority to detain students past school hours at any point of the investigation.
Although the ministry has guidelines and circulars on such cases, Azizah said the ministry usually allows schools to handle such cases on its own.
“Usually the schools must finalise investigations into such cases within a week and then it is the prerogative of the principal to decide on punishments,” she said.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam, who went to Vasanthapiriya’s wake yesterday, also commented that it all goes back to the SOP of the education system.
“If the school follows the SOP, we can avoid such situations. We don’t want a situation that a teacher becomes like the police and the investigator because if it went overboard, something like this happens,” he said.
Vasanthapiriya passed away at about 3.30am yesterday, a week after she was found barely breathing in her room after an attempted suicide.
She was in a coma for the past week in the Seberang Jaya Hospital and did not regain consciousness before passing away.
A teacher in her school, SMK Methodist Nibong Tebal, had allegedly accused the Form Two student of stealing her handphone on January 24.
The 13-year-old student had denied stealing the teacher’s handphone and on the same evening, when her father was out, she hung herself in her room.
She left a suicide note denying the handphone theft allegations and told her parents that no one should be held responsible for her suicide as it was her decision to do so.
