Teachers’ Working Hours in Malaysia’s Public Secondary Schools.

Dr Syed Muhamad Ubaidillah bin Syed Husin

Corresponding Author Email: studtrafif@yahoo.com

Introduction

Ask any teacher or almost-retired teacher when is his working hours, one will never get an
objective answer, or even no answer at all. Ask the Director General of Education or the Minister
of Education or even the Prime Minister of Malaysia, you will never get the exact answer.
Public servants in Malaysia are not allowed to write or to express their piece of thought (except
with permission from the government) and their basic right has been denied vide public service
circular which prohibits any civil servant to comment let alone to criticize government’s
policies. School heads can simply instruct teachers to work until at night and objection is an
offence. This is the situation Malaysian teachers have to face during their employment period.

Teaching profession has a very prestigious place in all professions. A teacher is a kingpin in the
entire system of education. Almost all cultures of the civilized world have considered their
teachers in a very high esteem. However, Malaysian teachers experience totally the adverse
situations. Teachers do not know their scope of work, their authority, their working hours and
most importantly – their rights. Consequently they were being exploited by the majority
unscrupulous and incompetent puppet school heads. Teachers are forced to come to school even
at night and not even a compliment is given. Graduate teachers are not allowed to form union.
(Seksyen 27(2)(f) dan 27(3)(aa)(i) Akta Kesatuan Sekerja ) Unions are controlled by under
qualified teachers who fight particularly for their own quarters leaving most of the fresh
graduates to be sidelined in all aspects of perks. Malaysian students have more privileges than
the teachers. Teachers cannot sit down while teaching, cannot stare at their students, to state a
few ecamples. Teachers cannot drink while teaching. Teachers cannot scold their students and
the list goes on. We can only praise, say yes, nod our head and obey the orders, illogical though.

Teachers’ Hours of Work

Whether you are just starting your career or have been working for some time it is always
important to understand your rights around your working hours. People have to know their scope
of rights and freedom granted to them by government and must be able to demand for their rights
whenever injustice takes place. If employees are not informed how long they have to work daily,
then, they may be subject to exploitation by the employers. This is the phenomenon for
Malaysian teachers. The pertinent question is how long do Malaysian teachers work in a
week? This question is very subjective. Great subjective questions need to have long rather than
short answers. But the government and the Ministry of Education are duly informed about this
issue. To make it in a nut shell, it is better to quote the reports contained in the National
Educational Blueprint 2013 – 2025 as a valid authority to answer this question. In Chapter 5
of PPPM 2013 – 2025 under the Heading ( Working hours and distribution of work) It states that
“A 2011 Ministry survey of 7,853 teachers found that they report working anywhere between 40
and 80 hours per week, with an average of 57 hours. It is worth noting that other surveys of teacher
workloads have found average hours reported to be as high as 77 hours per week (Universiti
Pendidikan Sultan Idris 2011 survey), which would imply a working day of 15 hours.”

They work beyond the normal working hours enjoyed by other workers in the public service. But
what has the Ministry of Education done to ease the strain in our education system? What has
the Minister of Education done to reduce teachers’ burden? There has been no sign of
willingness to remedy the issue of obscure working hours which matter deeply to teachers.

Teachers only know that they have to be in school before 7.20 am (some schools at 7.30) as the
learning process starts at 7.30. However, there has been no circular which states the time when
teachers can go back home from school. In 1980’s, school hours were from 7.30 to 1.10 and
some school ended at 1.30. But in 1990’s, the schools gradually extended their hours to 2.30 or
2.40pm. On 12 November 2011 the then Deputy Minister of Education Datuk Wee Ka Siong
announced the Ministry’s proposal for teachers to work 9 hours a day (7am to 4pm) after getting
green light from NUTP. The proposal was withdrawn after much criticism from many quarters.
However, now the Ministry is carrying out this rejected proposal stealthily.

Teaching is now rated one of the most stressful occupations in the country? Times have changed
and the societies and cultures have drastically diversified, but the tasks of a teacher are primarily
the same, which is the transfer of knowledge to the next generation. With change in cultural,
norms and traditions in the societies there has been a drastic change in the expectations from a
teacher. Some of these changes have not reduced the burden but instead increased it. Increased
workloads and extended working hours but with pay being reduced (the abolishment of PPSMI
allowance) have resulted in depression, breakdown, increase in expenses, and tension on
teachers.

Where the government has reduced the working days from 6 days to 5 days a week for other
professions , teachers are not covered by this policy. The working hours are from 8 am to 5pm or
45 hours per week (inclusive of 1 hour break every day). For teachers, they are bound to work
the second and the fourth Saturday every month. The Ministry’s decision to give the first and the
third Saturday of each month holidays is perhaps to give teaching staff two days off and to
allow children to spend Saturdays with their parents.

Extending the school hours will most likely create more stress. A ten-hour day work is not only
crazy but also illegal. The adverse risks are negative overall on the average individual and won't
help either students or teachers perform in school. Instead, likely, students’ grades will drop
even further. Students begin school early in most jurisdictions, some as early as 7:15 a.m.
Depending on the travel time to school, students and teachers may have to rise as early as 5:30
a.m. in some rural settings just to get to school. The main problem is that lack of sleep inhibits
memory and creativity, while making it harder to deal with stress and emotions. That's a
correlation deserving the utmost attention and caution when considering the effects of long
school hours on students and on teachers too.

Working in the private sector (maybe with the same working hours) is not the same as teaching.
Teachers are still working well beyond 48 hours a week, with many "face time" hours at the
school as was expected in the office. But in private business, the work was different - not as
intense every minute of the day, more flexible time, short yet effective meetings, more co-worker
socialization time. In teaching, the work is more intense with long slow meeting and many
irrelevant matters being brought up by the incompetent school managers, dealing with students
all day long and meeting theirs and the demands of administrators and parents. Teachers have
little "break" time and seem to spend endless hours outside of class on preparation work or
paperwork issues not directly related to teaching such as Co-curricular activities, Bina Insan,
Hari Koperasi, Mesyuarat PIBG, Ceramah Motivasi, Class Decoration Competition, to name
few of them. Not to mention having to work 10 hours every work day with the emotional
flexibility to attempt to meet students where they are - 35 of them at the same time, class after
class, and then move directly from that to meetings, clubs/societies, uniformed body, sport
houses is certainly what exhausts the teachers. The hours are very long and the work
exhausting.

Teaching has now become a very demanding occupation with a lot of stresses for a teacher who
has a lot of deadlines to meet and a lot of responsibilities to shoulder besides teaching a child
what are in a text book. From the outside teaching seems all together a different job with long
vacations, Teachers, typically get 11 weeks holiday a year, a factor which has been a
compliment for them while other professions can have only 5 weeks of holidays or more.
However the rule (vide circular Perintah Am 50 (a) Bab C from the Ministry) states that teachers
are only entitled to half of the days of the school breaks). There is an argument which says that
once holidays are taken into account, they work similar hours to other professions over the
course of a year. If we are to dissect it down, it means teachers can only enjoy 40 days of the 81
days of the school holidays inclusive of Saturdays and Sundays. If the weekends are excluded,
the holidays become lesser to 55 days which renders teachers to entitle to only 28 day- holidays
annually. The 28 days should be added with the 7-day (Cuti Rehat Khas) which eventually equal
to the office workers (Public Service) who enjoy 35 days of holidays. Considering travelling
expenses, preparation of materials for teachings and other related disbursements, teachers are
losing the most money from working extra hours with unpaid overtime of 7 hours and 20
minutes a week (refer to Exhibit 1 below) considering the maximum 48 hours of work.
Below is the table which shows the teachers’ working hours of a secondary school in Kuantan in
2019 (before the outbreak of Covid 19).

EXHIBIT 1

JADUAL JANGKAMASA KERJA GURU SMK A di KUANTAN SELAMA SEMINGGU (TAHUN 2019)

Hari Waktu Perkara Catatan Jumlah (Jam) x 4

minggu
Isnin 7.00am – 3.30pm Hari kerja biasa Walaupun tidak semua 8 jam 30 min +
3.30 pm - 4.30pm Mesyuarat ??? @ kelas @ guru terlibat, ianya 1jam = 9jam 30 minit
kelas tambahan tetap menjejaskan guru
yang terlibat.
Selasa 7.00am – 3.30pm Hari kerja biasa Kelas @ kelas 8jam 30 min + I jam
3.30pm – 4.30pm Mesyuarat tambahan = 9jam 30 min
Rabu 7.00am – 4.50pm Hari kerja biasa dan Kelas @ kelas 9jam 50 min
Aktiviti Ko kurikulum tambahan 9jam 50 min
Khamis 7.00am – 2.50pm Hari kerja biasa dan Hanya SMKAA sahaja 7jam 50 min +
3.00 – 5.30PM mesyuarat yang memaksa guru 2 jam 30 minit =
mesyuarat setiap minggu 10jam 20 min
selama berjam2 dgn
agenda yg mengarut.
Jumaat 7.00am – 12.00pm Hari kerja biasa Selalunya 1 bulan 5 jam + I jam = 6 jam
3.00pm – 4.00pm Kelas tambahan@ aktiviti sekali
lain sprti mesyuarat??
Sabtu ke 2 dan ke 4 8.00am – 12.00pm LADAP, Perkhemahan, Guru dipaksa 4 jam x 2 kali sabtu
sahaja Mesyuarat, Kursus, Kelas merancang dan = 8 jam @ mungkin
Tambahan, Gotong mengadakan program lebih.
Royong, Program-program bukan dengan kehendak
khas seperti Hari mereka. Kadang2
Pertemuan PIBG. sekolah memaksa guru
hadir pada 3 @ 4 kali
sabtu sebulan.
Mingguan @ kerja Kerja2 guru di sekolah Memeriksa kerja/buku Purata 1 jam sehari x 6 6 jam seminggu = 6
selepas waktu @ di rumah selepas pelajar, persediaan soalan hari (tidak termasuk jam
persekolahan yang waktu persekolahan ujian/ peperiksaan, buku Ahad)
tidak diketahui bila rekod, dan persediaan PdP
sebenarnya waktu
itu???
JUMLAH Dengan mencampurkan 9.30 + 9.30 + 9.50 +
KESELURUHAN hanya 1 kali Sabtu 10.20 + 6 + 4 + 6 =
DARI ISNIN sahaja iaitu 4 jam 55 JAM 20 MINIT
HINGGA 1 KALI
SABTU SAHAJA.
Note: 1. Some classes and (teachers) were forced to end their classes at 4.10pm which means they
work even longer hours.
2. Maximum working hours is 48 hours which means teachers work 7 hours 20 min longer.

The teachers thought the time table on Thursday where the school ends at 2.50 was a
compliment to us after being mentally tortured unreasonably from Monday to Wednesday and
which then makes us ecstatic and ready to work with relief on Thursday. Unfortunately,
Thursday turns to be much more formidable than the rest of the days when the principal insists
on teachers to meet him and listen to his useless yet boring , irrelevant and disgusting speech for
up 2 ½ hours. There was no attempt to motivate us to work hard while keeping us happy such
as to dangle a carrot in front of us, feed us with a nice meal and so forth. This is not all. Starting
from early of January 2014 until this article was written, the great principal of SMK A in
Kuantan planned activities almost on all Saturdays. No attempt has been made to equip teachers
with basic facilities for them to work comfortably such as providing new computers or lap tops,
and so forth. Worst still, we have to use all of our personal properties like lap top, scanner,
printer, hand phone and even the cartridge to do government/school’s work.

The Law Relating to Working Hours

All workers work within a legal framework which gives rights to and places duties on those
within their respective services. Law protects basic individual rights and freedom such as
liberty, equality and freedom of speech. It prevents individuals in powerful position from taking
an unfair advantage of other people. Law applies to every persons, public authorities,
governmental departments, private bodies, profit making organizations as well as non-
governmental organizations. Different from the United State which has RIGHT TO KNOW
LAW POLICY that spells the rights of an individual to have access to or to request for public
documents and be informed of the State’s public policy, a Malaysian has to put a battle to get the
same. Besides statutory obligations, teachers are subject to directives from the Ministry through
its administrative circulars. The issue is whether there is any provision or circular which states
the working hours of teachers? The answer is in the negative. However there is a law regarding
to working hours for workers.

Malaysian Employment Act section 60A

This is the law which governs employees’ working hours. Working hours for employees
covered by the Employment Act must conform to the following:

• Maximum of 48 hours per week

• Not more than eight hours of work per day
• Maximum of ten hours of work spread over a day
• Not more than five hours straight without a minimum rest period of 30 minutes
• One day off per week

The Regulations (Section 60(3a(i) and 60A) state a worker’s average working time should
not exceed 48 hours a week. This includes overtime and time spent working for others, but it
excludes rest breaks, travelling to work, working from home voluntarily or unpaid voluntary
overtime. From ‘Exhibit 1’, teachers work for 55 hours 20 minutes without being given with
any overtime pay. They are also not allowed to leave school compound for outside meals and
have no options but to eat at the school canteen with food of not their favourable taste.
Does this Act apply to every worker?

Most, but not all. Members of the police force, armed forces, and other public servants like
doctors, teachers etc, are NOT covered by this statute. "Employee" under the Act means:-

a) any person whose wages does not exceed RM1,500.00 per month under a contract of service
with an employer.

b) any person who irrespective of the wages he earns in a month has entered into a contract of
service with an employer and disengaged in:- home voluntarily or unpaid voluntary overtime.

(i) manual labour.

(ii) engaged in the operation of mechanically propelled vehicles.

c) one who supervises and oversees employees in manual labour.

d) any person engaged in any capacity, in any vessel registered in Malaysia with certain
exceptions.

e) any person engaged as a domestic servant.

From the interpretation above, teachers are not within the category of employees. Therefore they
are not subject to this Act.

Is There Any Law Which Specified Teachers’ Working Hours?

Since teachers are not covered under the Employment Act 1955, does it mean teachers have to
work indefinitely? Does this mean that such an employee can be asked to work at the whims and
fancies of the employer? Is there any law which protects teachers from being exploited by their
employers? For the last question, the answer is in the affirmative. This is important not only to
teachers but also to other professions in order to protect them from excessive working hours and
employers’ abuse of power. In the absence of any written statutory, teachers may refer to the
Common Law principles to fight for their rights which are not stated in any written legal
document.
English Common Law

Is the English common law still relevant to Malaysia, almost 60 years after the nation attained
independence from British rule? Sections 3 and 5 of the Civil Law Act provided for the use of
English common law where there was no Malaysian statute to deal with the case. Similarly, in
the context of civil law Sections 3 and 5 of the Civil Law Act allows for the application of
English common law, rules of equity and statutes in Malaysian civil cases where no specific laws
have been made. Malaysian legal system is based on the English common law.

In applying Section 3 and Section 5 in determining the application of English law in Malaysia,
it must be first determined whether there is any written law in Malaysia governing the particular
matter in dispute. English law is not applicable if there is such written law. In the absence of
written law, the courts would determine whether the English law is suitable to be applied in
Malaysia. If the answer is in the affirmative, the English law is applicable in Malaysia. But this
is subject to the qualification that judges can add conditions or limitations to the English law if
necessary due to local circumstances.

The application of law of England can only be subjected to two limitations:-

a) With the absence of local statutes on the particular subjects, English law is applied only to fill
the missing part in the Malaysian legal system
b) Only English Law that suited to local circumstances could be applied.

Section 3(1), Civil Law Act states: “The said common law, rules and equity and statutes of
general application shall be applied so far only as the circumstances of the States of Malaysia
and their respective inhabitants permit and subject to such qualifications as local
circumstances...”

Another issue arising is that England too has no written law relating to teachers’ hours of work.
Cases coming before the courts involving industrial and commercial workers whose employment
patterns, based on regular hours and work schedules. The situation is different from employment
amongst public servants. These two categories have different terms of employment . The former
normally work under contractual basis or fixed contract whereas the latter is normally employed
under permanent basis. Consequently, there can be a perception among employers that a person
employed on a fixed-term contract is a different type of employee compared to a 'permanent'
employee and, subsequently, their entitlements under an applicable industrial instrument or
employment legislation are in some way different.
Conclusion

Teachers need to know their working hours. The employers are obliged to inform the limit of
time for teachers to work. This is vital particularly to prevent from exploitation by the
employers. In the absence of any clear directives from the ministry, exploitation by unscrupulous
school heads on teachers will continue. Teachers must have an avenue for them to lodge
complaints on abuse of power by school heads. In case there is no clear reference, attempts to
seek redress from the court should be made. Since there is no written provision on how long
teachers should work, the court will consider to apply the principles of common law which suit
with the local circumstances. It is likely that the court will take into account the normal practice
of Malaysian public servants who work for 9 hours commencing from 8 am to 5 pm (with one
hour break). In case of teachers, the working hours are most likely to be from 7 am to 4pm.
However it is for the court to decide after scrutinizing the facts laid upon them.