Manyin says none of the 10 per cent of dilapidated schools in the country PH government claims to have repaired are in Sarawak
Dato Sri Michael Manyin
KUCHING: The claim by Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik that the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government had repaired more than 10 per cent of dilapidated schools in the country since it took over the federal government has raised the hackles of Sarawak’s Minister of Education, Science and Technological Research Dato Sri Michael Manyin.
He said Maszlee’s statement did not specifically mention where the 10 per cent of the repaired schools were located.
“Maybe the 10 per cent is in Peninsular Malaysia, not in Sarawak,” he told a press conference after the conclusion of Junior Innovate Sarawak Finals 2018 and NextSparks Competition held at Saradise Innovation Space in Jalan Stutong here yesterday.
Manyin added that 116 contracts were issued for 116 schools in Sarawak under the previous Barisan Nasional government on Feb 29 to repair and rebuild dilapidated schools using the Industrialised Building System (IBS).
Out of the 116 schools, 50 were handled by the Public Works Department (JKR) Sarawak, while 66 schools were handled by Ministry of Education.
All the schools under JKR Sarawak have been repaired while only 16 schools under the Ministry of Education have been repaired.
The rest of the schools handled by Ministry of Education were classified as ‘sick projects’ because they were supposed to be fully repaired by August.
“Since May, when Pakatan Harapan took over (the federal govt), they have not done anything to the dilapidated schools in Sarawak,” he added.
On Maszlee’s statement that the federal government aimed to repair 50 per cent of all dilapidated schools in the country next year Manyin said it is wishful thinking.
“If we are to repair and rebuild all the dilapidated schools in Sarawak, the total number (of dilapidated schools) is 1,020. The number of schools in critically dilapidated condition is 425 schools, which need to be rebuilt.”
Manyin added that Sarawak needs at least RM5 billion to repair and rebuild the dilapidated schools in the state, thus the federal government has to spend RM2.5 billion to achieve the 50 per cent target.
“We pray that RM2.5 billion will come out from the 2019 Budget, which will be tabled in November.”