A Sabahan Student Sued Her Teacher For ‘Skipping Classes’ For Eight Months

But what’s very rarely heard of if the teacher’s the one that’s been playing truant.

The Star reported that a former secondary school student from Sabah has filed a lawsuit against her English teacher for failing to turn up to class for about eight months.

The student, Nafirah Siman, who turned 18 this year, claimed that her teacher, Jainal Jamran, was absent and failed to perform his duties as an educator at SMK Taun Gasi, Kota Belud from February to October 2015 when Nafirah was in Form 4.

The teacher only turned up for a week during that period when officials from the Education Ministry and state Education Department visited the school.

The lawsuit also named the school's headmaster Suid Hanapi and SMK Taun Gusi, the Kota Belud district education officer, the Sabah education director-general, the Education Ministry and the government as defendants.

It was also learned that several complaints have been made against the accused and the school’s English Department’s head, but no action was taken against them.

What’s even more unnerving is that Nafirah claims that the headmaster had tried to cover up Jainal’s absence by asking him to ‘fabricate’ his attendance to make it look like he was only absent for two months.

Nafirah is now seeking a declaration that the defendants breached their statutory duty under the Education Act by failing to ensure that she was taught the subject during the period of absenteeism, and this resulted in the violation of her constitutional right for access to education.