KUCHING: Some 300 Sarawakian teachers are urging the state government to appoint them as Education Service Officers (PPP) DG41 Contract of Service (COS) scheme specifically for Sarawak this year to resolve the teacher shortage issue.
For the record, as of July 25, a total of 16,381 teachers out of 18,702 have been placed in schools under the Ministry of Education and Sarawak received 3,144 teachers of which 1,010 new teachers appointed are permanent DG41 Sarawak teachers while 1,603 are from various states.
“In comparison, the 1,010 Sarawak teachers out. of the 18,702 teachers, make up only six per cent.
“The data shown reinforces our long-awaited argument about placements in schools from Nov 27, 2021.
“In fact, since the lists on placement were issued from May 27 until Aug 26, 2022, we have arranged various measures so that we are given the opportunity to be educators in Sarawak,” said the Sarawak COS Teacher Group 2021 in a statement on Monday (Aug 29).
The group went on to say that the 326 Sarawak teachers applied for appointment support for the year 2022 because the candidates were unsuccessful for Education Service Officer DG41 COS in 2021 due to not meeting the subject vacancy.
This further causes dissatisfaction to the group of teachers as they still face the inconsistency of options in schools till today.
“One-off and COS teachers who are newly appointed are ordered to teach different subjects compared to the options specified in the offer letter.
“Our rationale is to request the support of appointing a COS teacher to immediately cover the shortage of teachers in the state as we have to undergo the appointment process in 2021.
“We have completed the application in the official website of the Postgraduate Diploma in Education programme (MYDPP) and have sat for and passed the Teacher Candidate Qualification Test (UKCG).
“We are ready to be placed at any school in Sarawak, be it in the rural areas or in the urban city to fill in any options that are still vacant as stated in the MYDPP site,” the group said.
The tecahers said by appointing the 326 Sarawak-based teachers, it coincides with the ministry’s wishes on the aspect of saving costs, energy and time.
“It can also help to reduce the burden on the existing teachers in the school based on the aspect of the number of subjects and classes taught as well as other tasks for the well-being of the teachers as aspired by the Senior Minister of Education, ‘Sekolahku Sejahtera’.
“Thus, this provides inspiration to students in a holistic manner, in line with the National Education Philosophy through our various backgrounds, in tandem with our desire to produce high quality human capital in achieving the status of Developed State by 2030,” said the group.
