KUCHING: The 14 private Chinese secondary schools in Sarawak must focus on producing quality education and having quality teaching staff in order to have a sustainable student population.
Saying this was Second Minister of Finance and Minister of International Trade and E-Commerce Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh.
He said if those schools had quality education and quality teachers, it would, by in itself an advertisement of sorts for parents to send their children there.
“If they want to have a sustainable student population, these schools must focus on quality education. And to have good quality education, they must recruit more qualify teachers. Pay them good salaries and give them incentives to work harder to improve the quality of education.
“Take Wong Nai Siong Secondary School in Sibu as an example, where KTS managing director Dato Henry Lau has pumped in millions of ringgit to upgrade the school’s infrastructure and facilities.
“It is now the most popular secondary school in Sibu; having good facilities, conducive learning environment, and qualified teachers. The students are obviously having greater pathway to colleges and universities.
“On top of that, KTS also provides scholarships to the students. This is the right way forward,” Wong said when contacted recently.
Wong also hoped that with the state government’s annual grant of RM7 million for these schools and a piece of land to generate more income, these schools should be able to employ better and more qualified teachers.
“UEC, offered by these secondary schools, is recognised by over 600 universities throughout the world including some of the famous ones. We thus hope these schools will remain focused on their objective to provide quality education in Sarawak,” added Wong, who is a former student of one of the private schools before pursuing his studies to Western Australia University under the Colombo Plan in 1965.
Meanwhile, Dato Richard Wee, the committee chairman of the Management of Kuching Chung Hua Middle School No 1, 3 and 4, agreed with Wong’s suggestion, saying they would continue to review the salaries of some 200 teachers and staff of the three schools.
“It has always been our intention to review their salaries, especially for those who have been working with us for more than five years,” he said, adding that the management had reviewed the salaries of teachers and staff of three private secondary schools three times in the last two years.
Wee said the remaining 11 schools are run by their respective management committee.
From the 14 private Chinese secondary schools in Sarawak, five are located in Kuching, five in Sibu, two in Miri and one each in Sarikei and Bintulu.
On a related issue, Wee thanked the Land and Survey Department for assisting the private Chinese secondary schools’ board of trustees to get a piece of land that has been promised by the state government.
“In normal land transactions, it’s always the people who will keep asking the department, but in this case, it’s the other way round.”
Recently, Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said the state government had identified a piece of land to generate revenue for the management of 14 private Chinese secondary schools in Sarawak.
He said the land deal would be finalised after the Chinese New Year. The ‘promised’ land was initially approved by former chief minister Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud and was later pursued by his successor the late Pehin Sri Adenan Satem.