NOV 6 — There is good news and bad news about Chinese independent schools before the end of the 2013 school year. The good news is, almost all Chinese independent schools in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur are full. The bad news is, a group of students had marched into the hall of the Kian Kok Middle School in Kota Kinabalu during a graduation ceremony to protest against the dismissal of 10 teachers.

The Kian Kok Middle School incident reflects the problem of power structure among the Board of Directors, the administration staff and teachers in Chinese independent schools. Unclear lines of authority and overlapping tasks have led to disputes and controversies.

The Board of Directors dismissed 10 teachers. A teacher expressed her dissatisfaction delivering her farewell speech, and students acted to show support for the teacher.

They made their respective arguments to support their stand. The Board claimed in its statement that the service of the teachers were terminated owing to dereliction of duty and misconduct while the teachers accused the school of giving unfair treatment. The students protested that good teachers were dismissed and their contribution denied.

Perhaps none of them is absolutely right, nor absolutely wrong. Each viewed the incident subjectively from their own point of view, in consideration of their own interests, and thus neglected the problem as a whole.

Did the Board fully and fairly assess the performance of each of the teachers? Did it conduct an internal investigation when a teacher was found to have made a mistake? Did it issue a warning letter and take disciplinary action before dismissing the teachers? If it jumped to the harsh action of dismissing these teachers without going through these procedures, it will lead to doubts and rebound, and perhaps even face the possibility legal consequences.

In recent years, some Chinese independent schools have started to improve the treatment of teachers and abolish the much-criticised one-year contract-based teacher employment system. However, owing to different subjective and objective conditions in different areas, different systems are adopted. Many Chinese independent schools still use the one-year contract-based system owing to financial and administrative constraints and thus, a number of problems have occurred. For instance, some teachers also sell insurance products or hold tuition classes because of job insecurity and low salary. Boards have frowned on such practices.

Teachers who frequently make mistakes should of course be punished. However, the punishment must be imposed through reasonable and lawful procedures. There should also be a set of objective evaluation criteria to assess the performance of teachers, and a training system to assist teachers whose performance is not satisfactory.

The management of administration of Chinese independent schools must move with time and teachers should not be employed or dismissed with a paternalistic attitude. Teachers must not be dismissed unless the bottom line is exceeded.

Hasty dismissal will only make teachers feel more insecure and lose confidence. Some teachers with creativity and positive thinking might also become negative and passive, in fear of offending their superiors.

The management of administration of Chinese independent schools, including teacher employment, training, promotion, retirement and even punishment must be institutionalised and transformed to the level of professional management. Chinese independent schools have overcome the precarious stage of the 1960s and 1970s. They should now move towards professionalism and modernity in education.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online.