BESUT: The plan to take in more trainee teachers from Sabah and Sarawak beginning next year is to fill the vacancies in the two states.
Second Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh said the number of candidates chosen previously could not meet the current needs.
“Hopefully, the ministry’s decision to take in more candidates as trainee teachers from Sabah and Sarawak as announced by Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin recently would not be politicised by certain quarters, as the move is sincere in assisting the states concerned,” he told reporters in Jerteh, here Sunday night.
Idris said the ministry would set targets to ensure the number recruited would be able to meet the needs for the future of education in Sabah and Sarawak.
He said the ministry had set the condition that to be trainee teachers, the candidates in the peninsula must have at least seven As in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination and at least five As for those from Sabah and Sarawak.
On another development, Idris said another polytechnic would be built at a cost of over RM180 million in Bukit Keluang, Besut, next year. For a start, the polytechnic would operate in rented premises in Alur Lintang, Besut from the middle of this year.
Idris said to date, there were 32 polytechnics nationwide including five metro polytechnics operating online and offering long-distance learning, especially to industrial workers. — Bernama