Fatimah (left) and state Education Department director Rokayah Madon looking at the initiatives to be undertaken by the state government to improve the quality of education. — By Chimon Upon
KUCHING: The Education Ministry is asked to expedite the issuance of authorisation to Sarawak to empower it to employ local graduates as teachers.
According to Women, Welfare and Community Wellbeing Minister Datuk Fatimah Abdullah, there are now 988 vacancies for teachers in the state and the state wants all of them to be filled the latest by March.
She said as education fell under the purview of the federal government, the state would need to get the authorisation from the Education Ministry first before it could start recruiting.
“The state government had written officially to the Education Ministry to give us the authorisation power to recruit local graduates in the open market.
“However until now, there is no answer to our request yet,” she told a press conference after chairing the Sarawak Education Consultancy Council (MPPS) meeting at a hotel here yesterday.
Fatimah, who keeps a watching brief on education for the state, said once the state had the authorisation, the state Education Department would be tasked to do the recruitment.
She said the state Education Department had the database of local graduates from where it could pick the right candidates for the job.
“Here we are talking about graduates who haven’t got a diploma in teaching.
“So while teaching, we want them to take their diploma in teaching at the various teachers institutes that are available in Sarawak,” she said.
Aside from needing 988 local graduates to fill in the teaching posts, Fatimah said the state was also in need of 401 religious teachers.
She said as the state Education Department could not get locals to fill the vacancies, they were requesting the Education Ministry to supply them with religious teachers from other states.
She, however, assured that the addition of 401 religious teachers from other states would not affect Sarawak’s quest for 90:10 ratio in the teaching profession (90 per cent local teachers and 10 per cent teachers from other states) in 2018.
“We are very near to achieving our target. Currently, the ratio is 88.9:10.
“So by next year, we should be able to achieve the 90:10,” she said.