IPOH: The Education Ministry will provide counselling for the teachers involved in the Kuala Dipang incident, in which three schoolchildren attending a 1Malaysia camp drowned after the suspension bridge they were crossing collapsed and plunged them into the Kampar river.
N. Dina Deve and M. Devatharshini, both 11, and 12-year-old V. Divyashree, died in the disaster. The 19 other students on the bridge at the time survived.
Deputy Education Minister Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi said the teachers who were directly involved when the incident occurred on Oct 26 had been traumatised by the tragedy.
”They will be given counselling to help them ride out this difficult period,” he told reporters on Wednesday after opening the national teachers education research seminar.
Dr Mohd Puad said that the teachers were not to be blamed for the incident.
”The incident was not due to negligence by the teachers,” he added, claiming that parents of the three deceased pupils told him that they were proud of the teachers for their quick action.
Dr Mohd Puad slammed a report by a Perak Pakatan Rakyat investigation committee, which had stated that the three teachers were not present to supervise the children during the crossing, claiming it was based on assumptions.
”They did not call witnesses or teachers when preparing the report. They are just assuming,” he claimed, adding that the state Opposition was “only good at pointing out people’s faults rather than finding solutions.”
The Pakatan committee claimed that the three teachers who were supposed to have been supervising the schoolchildren when they were crossing the suspension bridge had gone “missing” prior to the incident.
According to its chairman V. Sivakumar, deceased student Devatharshini’s elder brother, Sarveswaran, who also took part in the camp, had told him this after a visit to their home in Mambang Diawan.
Meanwhile Dr Mohd Puad said that the report by the committee set up by the Government following the incident had been completed and handed over to Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also the Education Minister.
No comments:
Post a Comment