SIBU: The issue concerning the lack of school buildings and those in dilapidated state here needs to be resolved promptly if the state hopes to achieve a world-class education status.
Sarawak Teachers’ Union (STU) president Jisin Nyud lamented that insufficient number of buildings had compelled some schools to continue running double-sessions.
“Sarawak needs more school buildings. The classes, hostels and staff rooms have been overcrowded over the years.
“I believe that by creating an environment that is conducive to learning, it could transform not only the students’ performance but also that of teachers.
“Having the teachers and students be passionate and enthusiastic during teaching sessions is very important because they are in school almost every day. That is why school facilities must be available in order for them to be creative and innovative,” Jisin told The Borneo Post yesterday, also highlighting that other issues such as roads and communications deserved top priority.
He said next year would be a challenging one for the state as all schools would be expected to perform better than this
year.
“This means that if Sarawak was going to go in line with the Malaysian Education Blueprint, there must be a catch-up plan for urgent transformation of infrastructure and facilities.
“It is hoped that in 2015, there would be more allocations for rural and interior schools in Sarawak. We cannot afford to live with the same situation year after year, when other states are enjoying better facilities,” he stressed.
Nevertheless, Jisin said STU was happy with the increase in allocation for education under Budget 2015, including funding for repairing dilapidated schools across the state.
Adding on, he said the union hoped that for the vast areas across terrains and mountains as well as other interior pockets, the ‘promises’ pledged to them would be fulfilled within the next few years.
“Among other things, STU wants schools to be accessible by good roads, which would bring many benefits to the institutions and society,” he said, noting that there had been lots of talks about the high spending for building and maintaining schools in the rural areas.
This was attributed to the high transportation and labour costs, he added.
“The challenge is for the rural and interior schools to get enough allocations as the cost to deliver materials and service is very high compared to town schools.”