A Malaysian teacher reportedly broke down in tears at a clinic after becoming overwhelmed by the pressure of improving student attendance at school.
The incident was shared by a Threads user, who said the teacher worked under the Student Affairs or Hal Ehwal Murid (HEM), department at a government school.
Teacher reportedly cried from burnout
Reported by mStar, the teacher had gone to the clinic while experiencing burnout and eventually opened up about the pressure she was facing at work.
She allegedly told the doctor that teachers were expected to help raise the percentage of students attending school regularly.
“Doctor, in order to increase the students’ attendance percentage, we teachers, with the help of the police, will go to the homes of problematic students,” the teacher was quoted as saying.
Teachers even visit students’ homes
The teacher claimed that they would personally knock on students’ doors and persuade them to attend school.
In some cases, teachers would also call parents early in the morning and ask them to wake their children up, get them ready and send them to school.
The additional responsibilities were reportedly part of efforts to ensure that students did not continuously miss school or fall behind.
‘Free school but VIP treatment’
The Threads user appeared surprised by how far teachers were expected to go just to ensure students showed up for class.
She jokingly described it as “VIP treatment”, saying that even though her own child attended a fee-paying school, they did not receive such a level of attention.
I was like, wow, free school but with VIP treatment. My child goes to a paid school and even that doesn’t come with such premium treatment,” she wrote.
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