Maszlee mulls incentives for teachers to get higher degrees

GEORGE TOWN, May 16 — Teachers may get incentives if they pursue post-graduate studies, Education Minister Maszlee Malik said today amid the government’s effort to upskill the Malaysian workforce.

He said he will discuss this with the Public Service Department.

“We will look into giving incentives to teachers who are currently pursuing, or planning to pursue post-graduate studies, either for a Masters or PhD,” he said during his speech at the National Teachers’ Day Celebration at Spice Arena here.

He said this is to encourage teachers to continue to upgrade their skills by undertaking post-graduate studies.

Maszlee also announced an allocation of RM35.2 million to hire temporary teachers to fill in for these teachers when they go on leave.  

He said the ministry will also be implementing new initiatives to reduce the workload of teachers so that they can focus on their core duty of teaching.

The initiatives which were implemented since January this year include improvements to the current filing, documentation, data management and online systems.

He said the ministry is also looking at other long-term initiatives involving more complicated issues that needed a review of existing policies and guidelines, improvements to infrastructure and optimising of human resources in schools.

”We hope that the implementation of human resources optimisation in schools will ensure that schools can function fully and that the distribution of teachers are more balanced in all schools,” he said.

Earlier, he commended a teacher from SMK Panji, KA Razhiyah Mohamed Khutty, after the latter received the Best Special Education Teacher Asia Award 2019 at the Special Education Network and Inclusion Association in Hong Kong in February.

He said Razhiyah was also listed among the top 50 teachers in the Global Teachers Award 2018 from the Varkey Foundation in London.

He said another teacher, Muhamad Khairul Anuar Hussin, from SMK Taman Universiti 2, Johor Bahru, was the only Malaysian teacher to be listed as one of the Top 40 finalists in the Global Teacher Prize 2019.