GUA MUSANG: The Kelantan Education Department has received 535 new teachers to meet the shortage of teachers in rural primary schools in Hulu Kelantan.The teachers reported for duty last Sunday, of whom 145 had the Post-Graduate Diploma in Teaching (KPLI) and would be teaching English and Living Skills.
The head of the department’s management sector, Zahari Daud said most of the teachers
would be placed in schools in three main districts including Gua Musang, Kuala Krai and Jeli which faced a shortage since last year.
He said the focus was to deploy teachers to schools in Orang Asli settlements to achieve the government’s goal of curbing illiteracy among the group and ensuring their success.
“Starting this year, we want to see Orang Asli children improve, especially in their Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) results compared to last year’s disappointing achievement,” he told reporters after a getting-to-know ceremony with the new teachers and meeting with parents of Orang Asli students at SK Pos Tohoi, near here, yesterday.
Zahari said they were also giving priority to rural schools where some had only two teachers for the English subject.
“This is because we have many complaints from parents on the shortage of teachers which resulted in their children lagging behind, so this year we would like to see changes after fulfilling their request,” he said. — Bernama