KUCHING: It’s about time Sarawak demanded the devolution of autonomy in education, after 222 teachers from Malaya failed to report for duty or refused to serve in the state.
Association of Boards of Management of Aided Chinese Primary Schools Kuching-Samarahan Division chairman Datuk Jonathan Chai didn’t mince his words when he said although action should be taken against these teachers, the bigger issue is for Sarawak to run its own educational system.
“We know better about the needs and unresolved problems in this sector; in particular we could make sure that sufficient resources and trained teachers would be provided to cater for the needs of all the schools in Sarawak,” he said.
Speaking to the New Sarawak Tribune, Chai said there has been acute shortage of teachers in the schools in rural areas, especially those specialised in English, Mathematics and Science.
The Ministry of Education, he said, should address and resolve these problems soonest so that the learning process of the students in the affected schools will not be unduly disrupted, or else the gap of academic standards between the students in the urban and rural areas will be driven further apart.
All these issues must be addressed holistically as quality education for the youths and future generations will be a prerequisite for Sarawak to achieve the goals of sustainable economic development and become a developed state and high income economy by 2030.
He was commenting on the Education Ministry revelation that the 222 of the 3,227 ‘one-off’ specially recruited teachers given placements in Sarawak who had failed to report or rejected the offer as of Sept 30 last year.
The ministry, through a verbal response on the Parliament’s website, said the 3,227 ‘one-off’ teachers included 2,621 permanent teachers and 606 teachers appointed under Contract of Services (CoS) in Sarawak.
Chai said while he agreed that action should be taken against teachers who refuse to serve in Sarawak, there should be some exceptional grounds or unique valid personal circumstances, such as having to look after sick family members.
Otherwise, he stressed that there is no excuse for them not to report for duty to serve in Sarawak.
“When they applied to join the teaching career (government schools) or civil service, they should have known that they would end up in any part of the country, even in a place not to their liking,” he said.
Chai said being a teacher is quite like army or police personnel whom must be ready to be posted to serve in any part of the country and an extra sense of commitment and duty-bound is expected from such honourable professions.
On that note, he was grateful and thankful for teachers who volunteered themselves to teach in remote interior areas of Sarawak where basic amenities are not available or lacking.
However, Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) president Bobby William felt that the Ministry of Education should not blame the new teachers who failed to report for duty; they could have their own reasons for not accepting, such as preferring to serve in their home state.
“Even if they come, they will not give their best and may ask to be transferred back to their home state after a few months or a year in Sarawak,” Bobby told Malay Mail recently.
“In the end, the students will suffer because of the lack of dedication of these teachers, especially those in the rural schools” he said.
The Ministry of Education, he said, should instead give priority to Sarawakians whose applications to be trained as teachers were not successful in the past.
He also urged the ministry to fill the vacancies left by teachers from Malaya with local applicants or take in university graduates as temporary teachers as a short-term measure, to address the shortage of teachers.
