Schools in the Balingian constituency need more attention from the education ministry.
According to Balingian Assemblyman, Abdul Yakub Arbi, one of the schools, SK Kuala Balingian the first to be built more than 50 years ago is dilapidated and lacking in facilities.
“The school’s dormitories can be considered as unsafe and dilapidated. It is a matter of time for the building to collapse due to its dilapidated condition although the school teachers and other staff are working together to repair the buildings, many parts of the buildings still need to be considered, too,” said Yakub in his speech at the DUN sitting on Tuesday.
Yakub also noted that apart from the dilapidated condition of the school buildings, the school is still using generator sets as a source of electricity.
He said he was told that SK Kuala Balingian is still using two generator sets in rotation for the period of 12 hours daily.
“The school has applied for electricity connection from Sarawak Energy Berhad’s (SEB) retail and operations arm, Syarikat SESCO Berhad (Sesco) through the Education Department.
“In fact, because of electricity problem, the school computer laboratory cannot be used,” Yakub said, adding that other schools in Balingian are also facing similar problems.
He pointed out that among other things that the school lacks is a playing field or a court for the students to hold recreation and sports activities.
“Hence, we ask the relevant ministry concerned to take prompt action to provide the necessary facilities to the schools as mentioned earlier,” said Yakub.
