KUCHING: The Sarawak government will proceed to merge dilapidated schools that have fewer than 150 students each once it has the required allocation of RM1 billion.
At a press conference yesterday, Education, Science and Technological Research Minister Datuk Sri Michael Manyin Jawong said in a recent meeting, the state Education Department said there are three major areas to focus on.
“Sarawak has around 800 dilapidated schools that have fewer than 150 students each. They will be centralised while a few may be closed down,” he said.
By reducing the number of dilapidated schools, it would be easier for the federal government to build centralised ones instead, he explained.
“This is good because proper facilities would be available. There would be more trained teachers as well,” he said after officiating at a scholarship award ceremony at SMK St Joseph here.
Manyin further expressed that although the intention sounds easy, some schools cannot be centralised.
“And we cannot close any school as parents don’t agree to it,” he said.
“We’re asking assemblymen and parliamentarians in the areas concerned to help us persuade the parents to agree to the idea.
“For now, we focus on the areas where the parents are agreeable.”
The second focus is the critically dilapidated schools that will be repaired or re-built.
“Lastly are the 216 schools along riverbanks which get flooded every year. They need to be relocated to a centralised area,” he said.
“We won’t give up… in our pursuit of meeting the needs of education for the people. Hopefully the fund for the whole thing would be approved.”
He also pointed that the 11 states in Malaya have no dilapidated school, yet Sarawak alone has 1,020 dilapidated schools and 415 critically dilapidated schools.
Recently, the Sarawak government proposed a contra loan of RM1 billion to the federal government in repayment of state government loans of RM2.43 billion.
It is normal for a state in Malaysia to loan a figured amount to be paid according to schedule. This contra loan for repairing/rebuilding dilapidated schools would be a win-win move for both sides.
