Check conditions at school hostels, Education Dept urged

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Parents help to repair a cabinet in a school hostel.

MIRI: The state Education Department should be more alert to the shortage of facilities in boarding schools, especially those in rural areas.

The shortage not only involves school buildings but also basic facilities such as electricity and clean water.

“In school hostels, facilities such as mattresses, closets, cabinets and beds are often overlooked,” said Wellie Henry Majang, who is the president of Dayak Think Tank Group (DTTG) here.

He said this after receiving complaints from several parents  unhappy with the poor condition of facilities at school hostels where their children are studying.

“These problems are common in rural schools. Although it is just a small issue, the implication is great because it will affect the students’ emotion.

A bed frame which has seen more than its fair share of repairs at a secondary school in Miri.

A rotting cabinet in one of the schools in Sri Aman.

The pitiful condition of a ‘closet’ in a school in Sri Aman.

“Imagine our children sleeping on a ‘rotten’ and smelly mattress, broken beds that have been repaired many times, living in a hostel with broken cupboards and falling doors. These will affect their studies.

“We are not asking for everything to be perfect, but at least a condition comfortable for the students so that  they can study with peace of mind,” he said.

Wellie added that with the existence of the state Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Research, it should be easier for the government to monitor these shortcomings and improve them accordingly.

DTTG also urged parents to voice such problems through proper channels so that they could be resolved, including through parent-teacher associations.

“Parents from rural areas are ‘shy’ and afraid to voice their concern about conditions at their children’s schools. If that is the case, please go through the PTA,” Wellie said.

He also said many parents who send their children to secondary schools outside Miri and Sri Aman complained of the damaged facilities in school hostels where their children are putting up.

“Mattresses for example, are probably five or six years past their use date. The same goes to the cabinets and cupboards. We cannot assume all these facilities can last up to 10 years or more merely because there is no request from the school to have them replaced,” he added.