PETALING JAYA - A Malaysia father revealed that his son’s school in the state of Negeri Sembilan allegedly locked primary school students in a makeshift metal cage.

The father of three, who wanted to be identified only as Mr Azuan, tweeted about the incident and said a seven-year-old pupil was allegedly locked in the cage due to bad behaviour.

Mr Azuan, 30, told mStar the incident happened on Tuesday at a school in the Rembau district involving a boy who is his son’s friend.

“In the WhatsApp group (with parents and teachers), we were informed that the child was playing in class. He would not keep quiet and kept disturbing his friends by pulling their pants,” he told mStar on Tuesday.

Mr Azuan also included screenshots of the WhatsApp group conversation of the alleged incident between a parent and teachers from the school.

The parent had asked if it was true that their son was placed in the makeshift cage to isolate him from his classmates.

“Yes sir, I did place him there,” a teacher replied in the group chat.

Mr Azuan stressed that no child who misbehaves at school should be punished by being locked up in a cage.

“It is irresponsible to keep the child in a cage, he is just in Year One. They are still small.

“At that age, they are expected to be naughty sometimes, but it should not be a reason to lock them up. There are other reasonable methods,” he said.

Mr Azuan also claimed there was a fuse box inside the cage.

“The children are not only placed in a ‘metal cage’ but there is a fuse box inside it. It is dangerous. I don’t know what will happen if the children play with it.

“It if happens to my child, I will be angry. I will report this matter to the district education office,” he said.

Following the incident, Mr Azuan claimed that his son was no longer cheerful going to school.

He, however, said his son did not face any punishment involving the makeshift cage.

“Since joining the primary school, my son is no longer as cheerful as when he was attending kindergarten. Maybe because he saw his classmates being locked up, that is why he was not happy to go to school.

“If the punishment of locking up students is true, I urge the authorities to take action against the teacher involved,” he said.

In a related matter, sources told mStar that a report had been lodged with the Rembau Education office on Tuesday evening.

“The office has received the report and the guardian of the child also met with us to discuss the matter,” the source said.

When asked if the matter is currently under investigation, the source refused to elaborate. THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK