The Johor Education Department is ready to improve the module of motivational courses organised by schools to avoid a repetition of alleged abuse of students.
Its director, Mohd Nor A. Ghani, said today that the decision to improve the module was made after discussions between his department and the Prisons Department and the parents of some of the 33 students who were alleged to have been physically abused when attending a motivational course at the Kluang Prison last week.
“The motivational programme will be continued as it helps to inculcate discipline and build character. We feel that an out-of-school programme is needed to complement classroom teaching,” he told reporters.
Mohd Nor said the alleged abuse was being investigated and action would be taken against teachers found to have misused the disciplinary procedure.
Last Monday, the 33 students claimed that they had their hair cut and were beaten, handcuffed, held by the neck and made to wear prison attire.
They also alleged that they were treated like prisoners. Meanwhile, Kluang Prisons director Roslan Mohamed said the parents of some of the students had lodged police reports and several prisons officers had their statements recorded to assist in the investigation.
He also said the students had not been penalised as they claimed but made to “feel” the life of convicted prisoners so that they steer away from crime.
Roslan said that students from five other schools had taken part in motivational courses with the same module, and the feedback from them had been encouraging.
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