Nansian (second left) presents the schooling aid to one of the recipients as others including Les (first left) look on.
BAU: The district of Bau may have another secondary school as well as its first vocational school soon.
Assistant Minister of Community Services Datuk Peter Nansian Ngusie said the proposals for both schools had been submitted for implementation in the coming 11th Malaysian Plan.
He disclosed the new secondary school named SMK Jagoi, will be located at the Jagoi area in Bau, while the most suitable site is still being identified for the vocational school.
“Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also Education Minister, approved the plans to establish the vocational school when he officiated at the Redeems Gawai Festival last year. Now, I am lobbying hard for the SMK Jagoi to be approved (under 11MP) as well.
“Not only do we want to add more schools and upgrade existing ones, our hope is that one day we can also get a university to be set up here in Bau,” he told reporters after presenting schooling aids at SK St Stephen here yesterday.
According to him again, the existing three secondary schools are currently congested due to the growing population in Bau with the establishment of many housing estates and the district’s rapidly becoming a sub-urban area for Kuching
With the addition of SMK Jagoi, coupled with SMK Singai, which is still under construction, he believed that all the secondary schools in Bau will finally be able to conduct single session classes one day.
Presently, the three secondary schools in Bau conduct morning and afternoon sessions to cater for the big number of students.
Earlier, in his speech, Nansian, who is also Tasik Biru assemblyman, expressed his disappointment over the delay in completing SMK Singai.
He said SMK Singai was supposed to be completed this March but the main contractor has been slow in wrapping up the work.
“The contractor is at fault here. Some people said it is my problem, but it is not a problem caused by me,” he said, adding the people in Bau can play their part by urging the contractor to hurry up with the construction.
Nansian, who is also Assistant Minister of Industrial Estate Development, also revealed that he was once a pupil at St Stephen’s School and so pledged to assist with funding for activities and upgrading of facilities at the school.
During the ceremony yesterday, 39 Primary Six pupils received schooling aids of RM100 each. They were among the 220 pupils from the school eligible for the aid.
It was also disclosed that a sum of RM1 million in schooling aids was allocated for Bau district alone.
Also present were Bau district education officer Les Met and the school headmistress Michaelina Mitop.