The National Union of Teaching Profession (NUTP) sees the government's announcement of new rewards and pay scales for the educators in the country as "a turning point for future teachers".

NUTP secretary-general Lok Yim Pheng hoped that the RM300 million foundation announced by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yesterday will serve all deserving teachers.

"We hope the money will reach all teachers," she said, adding that the foundation, named Tun Hussein Onn Teachers Foundation, would not face the same predicament as the Yayasan Guru Malaysia Berhad.

"Yayasan Guru Malaysia was in a bad financial state, thus we hope the new foundation will see proper administration and monitoring," she said.

"We hope the government will keep up to their promise."

Yesterday, in a national level Teacher's Day celebration in Johor Bahru, Abdullah announced that the government has allocated RM300 million for all teachers in the country, and at the same time, has introduced better pay scales for primary school heads.

Abdullah stated that the foundation will receive RM100 million funds from the government and another RM200 million from Teachers Provident Fund (KWSG) and Yayasan Guru Malaysia Berhad.

Commenting on better scales for school heads, Lok opined that it created a new opportunity for non-graduate school heads and their senior assistants.

Include retirees too

Meanwhile, Cuepacs advisor N Siva Subramaniam said the setting up of the foundation was a good move.

He hoped that the foundation would not forget retired teachers who have earlier contributed to KWSG.

"The foundation must not only include present teachers, but also retired teachers who have contributed to KWSG," said Siva.

Siva added that the foundation must be represented by teachers, and not only people from the Education Ministry and private sectors.

"Teachers' representation is important, as they know the needs of other teachers and they understand the history of the foundation," he said.