'Police reports not withdrawn'

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BINTANGOR: Parents of three Year Six pupils barred from sitting the recent Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) examination will not withdraw the police reports they lodged against a senior teacher of SK Bandar Bintangor and the school.

The boys -- Idie Ganyol, Edward Ujoh Augustine and Richmend Mangi were regarded as "academically weak" and locked in a remedial classroom from 8am until noon while their classmates sat the exam on Sept 13 and 14.

When met after school at a longhouse in Ulu Sungai Janting, here, Ujoh admitted that he was an average pupil and that his academic results were nothing to shout about.

"The best I could do was to obtain Cs in the exams but I never skipped classes. The teacher who locked us in the room said we were naughty and not academically good," the soft-spoken Ujoh said.

Ujoh, who aspired to be a fireman, asked this reporter if he could still be one as he did not sit the exam.

Idie, meanwhile, said he also wanted to be a fireman.

He claimed he was locked in the room as the teacher said he did not study at all.

Ujoh's mother Molly Nilau, 38, said the boys' parents had not withdrawn the police reports lodged against the teacher and the school as claimed by Bintangor district police chief Deputy Superintendent Mohd Hafifi Mohd Salim.

She added that they had a meeting with school headmaster Abang Hashim Abang Solhi and the teacher who locked the boys up, Usin Lingoh, on Sept 15.

"The teacher kept apologising and begging us to withdraw the report. But we firmly said no because what he did was very wrong.

"I will never accept his apology because he treated my son like a criminal. Ujoh is not a thief. Yes, he is naughty but boys are boys. The school authority should have consulted us before locking our children up."

Teary-eyed Molly said: "How would you feel if your son is locked up like that?"

Molly added the teacher told the parents that as village farmers, there was no way they could afford to hire lawyers if they decided to go to court.

She claimed that Ujoh and Idie were taken by the teacher to a clinic where the doctor prescribed them with medicines and medical certificates a day before the exam.

"They were not sick. I don't understand why he took them to the clinic."

Idie's father, Ganyol Lubok, 39, claimed the teachers had offered to use his son's UPSR trial examination results to replace the real one. "How can that be possible? Isn't it against the law?"

He lamented that although the boys were not A students, the teacher had no right to stop them from sitting the exam.

"I hope the Education Department will thoroughly investigate the matter and be fair to our children."