PETALING JAYA: Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) should take strict action against a lecturer who berated a B40 student during an online class, says MCA Youth chief Datuk Nicole Wong Siaw Ting.

       Calling the act “bullying”, she said the lecturer’s actions were seen as violating an educator’s ethics and being more emotional in nature and added that it does not aid a student's learning.

       “In this regard, MCA Youth urges the university to take stern action against the lecturer so that bullying against students can be addressed.

       “Students who are traumatised by bullying are at risk of enduring mental stress in the long run which will affect all aspects of their lives,” she said in a statement on Wednesday (March 30).

       She said MCA Youth views seriously the viral video of a public university professor taunting a student during the class simply because the student did not have a laptop.

       “MCA Youth agreed that education should be given priority over other things.

       “The lecturer's behaviour, on the other hand, is a major violation of the instructors' code of ethics and a breach of the trust that educators are expected to have. It was more emotional in nature, which hampered the learning of the students who participated in it,” said Wong.

       Although she noted that the student has allegedly finished studying, she said the incident is still saddening and should not have happened.

       She also thanked Higher Education Minister Datuk Dr Noraini Ahmad for responding fast to the situation and requesting an explanation from the parties involved.

       On Tuesday (March 29) night, a video of a female lecturer berating a student who was using his phone to attend an online class in his fifth semester went viral on Twitter.

       When she found out his father is unemployed and his mother is “no more”, she told him to ask his sister to sell her gold bangle so he can get a laptop, something she felt was a must to attend online classes.

       She said that without a laptop, the student could not study well and would end up a dropout.

       “The price of a laptop is only RM800. What is your problem? That's why I can't sit with B40 people. They’re thinking more of other matters than their lessons,” she had said before telling him to turn off his camera so she cannot see him again.

       The video was viewed over 900,000 times and shared by more than 50,000 Twitter users before the original account was removed today.