Teachers are against the need of signing a 'responsibility and dedication' contract which was proposed by the Education Ministry yesterday.

National Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP) secretary-general N Siva Subramaniam said that the signing of such a contract cannot ensure responsibility and dedication to the work of teachers nationwide.

"We are opposed to any implementation to make it mandatory for teachers to sign such contracts," said Siva.

Yesterday, Deputy Education Minister Abdul Aziz Shamsudin said he would discuss the proposal with his superior, Education Minister Musa Mohamad.

Abdul Aziz had denied that the proposal was a political move to punish those teachers who are against the government.

He said that government teachers are expected to be professional, and obey the terms and conditions set by the government.

The ministry had earlier proposed that students and university dons sign an agreement for good behaviour with their institutions. This is expected to be implemented next year.

The 'good behaviour' proposal, which came after Universiti Malaya's historic Dewan Tunku Chancellor was burnt down last month, was supported by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The government had linked the tragedy to student activism, while an investigation by the fire department was reported to have concluded that the hall was razed due to faulty wiring.

Code of ethics

Siva said that instead of a mandatory 'good behaviour' contract, NUTP proposed a voluntary code of ethics to assist teachers and education personnel to overcome issues of professionalism and ethics.

"We already have enough laws but no proper enforcement. Therefore, it is better to implement a code of ethics," he added.

The union, which represents about 90,000 teachers in the country, are expected to submit the code to the ministry soon.

"The discussion on ethical questions should be on-going among educators since it is too late to start the debate when a problem surfaces," said Siva.

However, Siva stressed that all teachers must be aware of their responsibilities and must abide to the work ethics expected of government servants.

"As public officials, teachers must obey the ruling government. They must not spread political ideologies in the classroom," he said.