KOTA KINABALU: Students in several schools in Sabah are deprived of computer laboratories because contractors have failed to complete the task given to them.Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun yesterday expressed his disappointment over the matter, stressing it was important for contractors to do their homework before accepting the task.
“Most of the contractors are unfortunately appointed by the headquarters in the peninsula and most of them are not aware of our situation here, they do not know the constraints and how it is in Sabah.
“In addition to this, they have too many projects in hand. It is sad because the government spends a lot of money on a project and in the end, it is not even completed. This, somehow, is nothing new here,” he told reporters during a press conference on the State-level Novel Writing Competition at Wisma Tun Fuad, here.
He said investigating the background of potential contractors was vital before granting them projects.
“It is best to offer such projects to local contractors, as firstly, they know the situation in Sabah; secondly, they will get the job done, and thirdly, it will save the government a lot of money as they will be able to work within cost,” said Masidi.
He shared a few incidences where several schools were provided with computer labs when there was not even a telephone line or an electricity supply to the area.
“How can you operate a computer without electricity and how are you supposed to teach one to use Internet when there is not even a telephone line to the school? It happened in one of the secondary schools in Kundasang, so I cannot imagine in areas further than this,” he said.
A recent news report highlighted the contractors’ failure to finish the jobs in several schools such as in Banggi and Kota Belud.
He therefore urged the Education Ministry to take steps to overcome such a situation and to review the rules and regulations, such as paying contractors only when the job is completed.
“I hope the State Education Department will list down all failed projects in schools and submit a proposal to the Education Ministry on how best to deal with such problems.”
“It is also my hope that these schools will look after the unused computers well.
We do not want them to misuse the facility,” he said.
On another development, Masidi said it was ‘alright’ for teachers to be involved in direct-selling for as long as it would not affect their work.
“I am aware that there are teachers doing such businesses. I had done two jobs before, and to be fair, there are people who are earning very little, so there is nothing wrong for them to earn extra cash from doing direct-selling … but they must remember that it should not affect their first job and performance,” he said.
Having said that, Masidi, however, encouraged the Education Department to monitor the situation so that teachers would not get carried away.
“We can actually check them through their work performance. For instance, a Geography teacher, if many of his or her students fail in the subject, that means she or he did not perform her or his duties well. I believe there are other mechanisms to detect their performances and failures to meet the expectations,” he said.