Dilapidated nurseries to be rebuilt — Fatimah

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Dayang Monalizawati (fourth left), Sharifah Hasidah (third left), Dr Hazland (second right) and others look on as Fatimah (third right) presents the certificate to Noorirwaniee (fifth left).

Dayang Monalizawati (fourth left), Sharifah Hasidah (third left), Dr Hazland (second right) and others look on as Fatimah (third right) presents the certificate to Noorirwaniee (fifth left).

KUCHING: Nurseries under the Community Development Department (Kemas) that are in dilapidated or poor condition in Sarawak will have to be rebuilt.

However, the rebuilding has to be done in stages, pointed out Welfare, Women and Community Wellbeing Minister Datuk Fatimah Abdullah.

She disclosed that the ministry had identified 157 early childhood institutions that were in poor condition and Kemas Sarawak had proposed that the government rebuild at least five nurseries each year.

She also said six nurseries which were not under Kemas had been rebuilt this year.

“Rebuilding of nurseries with six classes will cost about RM1 million. But the federal ministry had suggested to reconstruct these buildings with a slightly different structure than the ordinary ones which will incur millions of ringgit,” she said, but explained that the process was speedier.

Fatimah highlighted this at the ceremony to present Benchmark of Quality of Pre-school, Nursery and Kindergarten and certificate of appreciation to Tabika Kemas Taman Sepakat Jaya here yesterday.

Elaborating further, she said the Rural and Regional Development Ministry might use the Industrial Building System (IBS) to rebuild the nurseries, following that of the Education Ministry.

“Construction can be done in a short period of time using IBS but the structures of the school may not last as it could sustain for about 20 years only. But it is better compared to not making improvement to schools with poor condition. We can consider to accept the proposal,” she said.

“For Kemas nurseries, we have yet to know how many will be approved for the rebuilding project in 2017,” she added.

Commenting on the ceremony, Fatimah emphasised the importance of providing quality early childhood education to produce excellent human capital.

“The quality factor is crucial to have a positive impact on children attending early childhood education in these institutions,” she added.

Among those present were Early Childhood and Family Development Assistant Minister Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali, Demak Laut assemblyman Dr Hazland Hipni, Kemas Sarawak deputy director Dayang Monalizawati Abang Ismail and Tabika Kemas Taman Sepakat Jaya chairperson Noorirwaniee Mustapha.