KUALA LUMPUR: Despite a court order to reinstate him after he was dismissed for being absent for 1,535 days, Yahaya Wahi's intention to continue teaching primary school students in the remote area of Gerik remains uncertain.
This after the Attorney-General's Chambers is appealing the High Court Judge K. Muniandy's decision who allowed Yahaya's judicial review application to quash his dismissal.
Counsel E. Ernest Balasingam who represented Yahaya said the "battle" for justice against the science and mathematics teacher will continue at the Court of Appeal on Aug 28.
The senior lawyer said the Appellate Court is expected to fix a hearing date during the case management on the said date.
"Actually, the judge (Muniandy) already handed down the ruling to reinstate my client in teaching services in August 2020.
"However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the case has been pending, and only yesterday the judge provided his full judgment.
"As of now, my client is only conducting private tuition," he said when contacted today.
On Dec 16, 2012, Yahaya accepted a transfer to SK RPS Kemar and was prepared to serve in the school located in the interior of Gerik.
However, the 44-year-old teacher failed to report himself at the school on the said date, only appearing for work on April 3, 2013.
This was because he discovered that he had to reach the school by boat across a lake.
He did not teach at SK RPS Kemar until he discovered a land route to the school — a logging trail on May 16, 2017.
Yahaya has a phobia of water due to a near-drowning incident during his childhood, which was further compounded by witnessing the drowning death of his elder brother.
He received medical attention in a government hospital in Sungai Petani and was referred to its psychiatry department in 2015.
Yahaya stated his medical condition to SK RPS Kemar's principal when the latter initiated disciplinary action against him in 2019.
He was dismissed from the teaching service on Aug 9, 2019, and all his emoluments were stopped from Aug 6, 2019.
Muniandy in his judgment said Yahaya's dismissal was against the nature of justice and procedural fairness.
He said Yahaya had submitted a myriad of medical reports as evidence of his phobia for water, which disabled him from commuting to work via a water route.
"It is not a case of him not wanting to work, especially when he has an exemplary service record as a teacher.
"He could have refused the transfer immediately when he received it, but he soldiered on. However, he failed due to his phobia.
"It is quite clear that he was not faking it, but he genuinely faced a real problem, to which the respondents turned a blind eye," he added.