Episode 1: Posting to Agama Secondary School, Sibu, Sarawak.

Sarawak teachers' posting policy and management

It was a surprising event in my life to be assigned to an urban secondary school which is just 10 minutes from my house. On the other note, this school is a Sekolah Agama or Islamic Religious School which also uses Malaysian national curriculum in addition to Islamic Religious subjects. In this blog, I would like to share a chronology of this unexpected event.

25th September 2023 (Monday)

Ministry of Education Malaysia Organisation Chart. Take note of the numbers on the chart.

For context, my study leave ended on 2nd October 2023. However, I decided to report a week earlier. On 25th September 2023, I reported to Bahagian Biasiswa dan Penajaan or Scholarship Department in Cyberjaya (1). This department is responsible for managing teachers who are on study leave. After I got the letter from the department, I was told to go to Bahagian Sumber Manusia or the Human Resource Department in Putrajaya (2). This department is responsible for assigning teachers to schools all over Malaysia. Instead of the word ‘assign’, the word ‘posting’ is more familiar to teachers in Malaysia. Therefore, the term ‘posted’ will be used throughout this piece of writing.

When I handed the letter I received to the Human Resource Department, the officers stamped on the right of the letter and wrote the school name on it. I was posted to Sekolah Menengah Agama, Sibu, Sarawak or Agama Secondary School, Sibu, Sarawak. I was told to go report at the school and not to the Sarawak State Education Officer (4). The problem starts here.

My letter of posting from Human Resource Department, Putrajaya.

26th September 2023 (Tuesday)

Since I did not have to report to the Sarawak State Education Office in Kuching, I flew back to Sibu from Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

27th September 2023 (Wednesday)

After resting for the day, I went to the school to report to the principal as being told by the officers at the Human Resource Department, Putrajaya.

Unfortunately, the principal was not informed about my posting to the school. Since this school is a religious school, it is also being managed by Bahagian Pendidikan Islam or the Islamic Education Department (4). Then, he told me that any new teachers who got posted to the school would be delivered to him through Islamic Education Department. Then, he contacted the officers to confirm my posting. However, the issue was deeper than that.

29th September 2023 (Friday)

This is my first official posting letter to SK Methodist, Kapit.

The most annoying conflict happened today. The principal and the Penolong Kanan Kurikulum or Curriculum Senior Assistant) were very concerned on my posting letter as it was only being stamped and not really official compared to my first posting letter. They advised me to contact Jabatan Pendidikan Sarawak or Sarawak State Education Office to ask on my official posting letter.

a. Human Resource Department, Sarawak State Education Office.

I called the Sarawak State Education Office to ask about my official posting letter and they connected me to the Human Resource Department. Instead, the officer in the department was not happy with the school that I was being given at the ministry level. In addition, I was reprimanded for two things:

a. I did not ask to be posted to a primary school instead of a secondary school as my bachelor’s degree was specifically for young learners.

b. I reported one week earlier before my study leave ended.

They also said that they did not receive any letter from Putrajaya and asked me to email them the letter I received from the Human Resource Department at the ministry level in Putrajaya.

However, these two things were not my fault.

a. For context, teachers in Malaysia do not have the freedom to choose a school they want. I did not have a choice to choose a school. I was given a secondary school which I am happy with.

i. Who am I to question their decisions?

ii. I am happy with the school. Why should I reject it just because I have a bachelor’s degree in teaching young learners?

iii. I am confident that I can teach secondary pupils. So, what is the problem?

b. It was in the email from the Scholarship Department that I should report to work as soon as I returned from the UK.

It was very clear to me that the delay of the Sarawak State Education Office in receiving the letter had got nothing to do with me. However, the tone of voice of the officer who answered my phone did make me question the authenticity of the letter I received.

b. Human Resource Department, ministry office, Putrajaya.

When I contacted Puan Syazuani, she confirmed that the letter was real and authentic. There is a need in this school and therefore they decided to put me in a secondary school after a meeting. She continued that if the Sarawak State Education Officers have any questions, they can directly ask her. I was so relieved when I heard about it. She assured that the official letter would be ready in one month. On my side, I did it right.

I may be in trouble because…

the call that I made to the Sarawak State Education Office made me aware that the State level and the District level did not realise my presence in the system. Since I received the letter from the ministry level, only the ministry and the school level were well-informed about my posting and presence in the school. The delay in communication between the ministry, state and district level has caused a huge problem to me in administration. It has been a week and I have not received my official posting letter. Without the official posting letter, the school administrations do not want to assign any classes to me as they are wary that I will be transferred to other schools.

The problem is just getting more intense and complicated. Read Episode 2: Waiting for official posting letter.

This post is not to condemn the system. I wrote this post to share my experience of how I am being managed in this system as a Malaysian teacher.