KOTA KINABALU: Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has assured Sabahan graduates in the teaching field that steps are being taken to ensure that they will be posted to schools in their home state.
The Education Minister said that this was a matter that he takes seriously and the ministry has been looking very closely as to how it can resolve the problem.
Speaking at a gathering with university students at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) here yesterday, Muhyiddin said that the ministry would be looking at the requirements and would recommend the number of teachers required.
“In October last year, I personally announced the placement of 10,315 graduates in the field of education from public higher learning institutes and teachers’ training institutes.
“This is part of the steps taken after we have taken into consideration and we also took into consideration the number of teachers needed in the long run as we have outlined in the country’s educational development plan,” he said.
Muhyiddin also said that the ministry had undertaken a study on the marketability of graduates in the teaching field so that it could get more accurate input which would be used when taking into consideration the requirements at the national level.
“This is a very important step that we have taken in which some have said is too much but I do not think so as this is based on the current situation. For example, now, when the Government had decided to extend a teacher’s service tenure from 58 years to 60 years, this had resulted in some of the new graduates being unable to be posted as there are no vacancies in the school.
“We will be resolving this in stages. We have requested public higher learning institutes to have a moratorium and limit the number of students and for teachers’ training institutes to only take students for certain subjects,” he said.
“All this is easier said than done, but we will strive to post Sabahan and Sarwakkian teachers to their own home states,” he said.