Managing the Rules of Natural Justice amongst Teachers in Melaka

Abstract

Everyone should know the law. Irrespective of your background, the law presumes that you should know the law. This is incompatible with the maxim “Ignorance of Law is No Defence”. Despite this maxim, there seems to be a significant number of individuals who appear to be in the dark with some basic laws in this country. This writing discovers whether teachers in public schools in Melaka know of one basic law namely the rules of natural justice (RNJ) before any action is taken against them because of disciplinary issues, misconduct or breach of rules and others. This doctrinal writing is delivered based on library research collecting secondary data from academic text books, online journals and reported cases. Topping that up were the surveys collected online amongst 126 teachers from three districts in Melaka making this study also empirical in nature. The finding of this study was also gathered from cases brought to courts in relation to teachers and it indicates that there is still room for improvement for managing the RNJ application in decision making in schools. The outcome of this study provides guidelines for the State Education Department to strategize a mechanism to convey the rules to teachers in Melaka so that they will be aware of their rights and responsibilities. It also serves as a path for researchers to further discover the status for teachers in other states as well as identifying other aspects relating to this law.