Pairin says temporary teachers in Sabah should be given permanent appointments
PENAMPANG: Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan said teachers should not be posted from Peninsular Malaysia to teach in Sabah and is seeking an explanation from the Education Ministry for not using the service of temporary teachers.
He said the ministry should absorb the existing 520 Sabahan temporary teachers for permanent appointments instead of sending more teachers from the peninsular.
“I feel the suggestion to bring in teachers from the Peninsular to fill in the vacant slots is not the answer. We have about 500 attachment teachers who are qualified and some are even graduates,” he pointed out.
“By doing so (extending their contracts) it will enable Sabahans to fill the vacancies that exist. If not when can locals be trained?” he asked.
“If there is a shortage of teachers in Sabah, I want to know why they are being transferred to the mainland? I don’t feel this is the right move to resolve the teachers shortage problem,” he told reporters after launching a health and blood donation campaign organised by PBS here on Sunday.
He stressed that local teachers are more familiar with the environment, culture, customs and traditions in Sabah and they would be more suited to prepare the younger generation in the state for future challenges.
“We want to ask the Ministry of Education why should they end the service of more than 500 temporary teachers in the state who are degree holders?
“We also want to know why the ministry posted Sabahan teachers to the peninsular if we ourselves are unable to meet the educational need?”
Pairin said the Education Ministry should be giving the necessary training to the temporary teachers.
The Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) president was commenting on the statement by Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi on Saturday that the government would continue to send teachers from the peninsular to Sabah and Sarawak until the two states have enough teachers of their own to meet the need.
Meanwhile, State education director Datuk Dr Muhiddin Yusin said Sabah would require 400 to 500 trained teachers to fill existing vacancies, especially those trained to teach English.
When contacted by The Borneo Post yesterday, Muhiddin stressed that the department is only responsible for the placement of teachers posted by the Education Ministry and the department does not have any power to appoint teachers to teach in the state.
“We will accept any teacher posted by the ministry because we are facing the problem of not having enough teachers.
“We cannot decide the teachers for posting to Sabah because the decision on posting of teachers and the intake of trainees into teachers’ colleges rests with the ministry,” said Muhiddin, adding that the shortage of teachers was one of reasons for the poor performance in public examinations in the state.
When asked about the statement made by Mohd Puad that the government would continue to send teachers from the peninsular to Sabah and Sarawak, Muhiddin refused to make any comment since the department did not have any power to control teachers’ postings.
He added that the department would receive any number of teachers until the department had enough to meet the need.
Muhiddin also said the department did not have any record on the number of Sabahan teachers who have applied to undergo training because the decision rested with the ministry.
“We have received numerous requests for supporting letters from our graduates to apply for the teachers’ posts but many of them could not get through to attend teachers’ training colleges,” he added.