KUCHING: It is essential for the Education Ministry to provide insurance coverage for teachers as they are vulnerable to work-related accidents, said Sarawak Teachers’ Union (STU) president Jisin Nyud.
“Teachers are involved in many activities the moment schools reopen, such as attending meetings outside the schools, training students, and bringing students for co-curricular activities. It does not matter whether they are in the urban areas or outskirts because they are at risk of accidents anywhere.
“Quite a number of teachers, especially those in rural areas, feel reluctant to bring students outside the school because they do not want to risk their lives. Should anything happen to them on their way or during their involvement in activities, are they insured?
“In fact, this matter is not new and has been discussed between the Union of Teachers in the Malaysian Education Service (Kongres), Teachers Foundation of Malaysia, and the ministry, but it has yet to be implemented,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday.
He was asked to comment on a recent Bernama report that the National Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP) had proposed to the ministry for a study to be carried out to provide accident insurance coverage for teachers.
NUTP raised the matter following the death of a teacher during the floods in Terengganu last December. The teacher was killed when the lifeboat she was in capsized while returning home to ensure the SPM answer sheets kept at her house were safe.
In the news report, NUTP secretary-general Lok Yim Pheng said the ministry must provide insurance coverage for those teachers who were vulnerable to accidents, particularly during extra-curricular activities.
Jisin said should the Education Ministry decided to provide accident insurance coverage to teachers, the teachers would still have to decide whether to take it up or otherwise.
“STU members are fortunate because quite a number of them have bought their insurance from our insurance partners. Looking at our geographical landscape, we know that teachers in Sarawak travel at their own risk. STU is fast to realise that insurance is a necessity.
“Furthermore we want the lives of our teachers to be insured should anything happen to them. After all, our insurances are among the cheapest so far. Since the late 1980s, we have been encouraging STU members to get their insurance from our partner insurance companies.
“However, should the ministry ever provides insurance to teachers, then it is up to the teachers’ to decide. It is important they are insured.”