KUCHING: PRS Youth yesterday urged the Education Ministry to seriously look into the reason behind why there were many Sarawakian applicants ‘unqualified’ for the posts of teachers in their own state.
Its deputy chief Sempurai Petrus Ngelai, education bureau chief Martin J Madden and publicity chief Bit Surang said they were ready to meet up with Education Ministry officials to scrutinise the recruitment process and come up with a swift solution.
They said in a statement that if there really was a lack of qualified Sarawakians as stated by Education Minister II Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh, it was a serious matter for it concerned the well-being of Sarawak’s young generation.
“Instead, scores of teachers from the peninsula are posted here to serve in environments where they are not comfortable to be in. We are also deeply concerned to hear from the Education Minister II that there were only 601 qualified Sarawakian teachers for the 2,432 vacancies in the state this year.”
“If this data is correct, this means Sarawak can only supply 25 per cent of the needed qualified teachers.
“We feel this number is too low, and action must be taken to rectify the situation immediately,” they said.
They also supported the statement made by party president Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Masing that the ministry should absorb the Universiti Tun Abdul Razak (UniRazak) graduates in education, who were still unemployed.
“This course (Bachelor of Education) from UniRazak is fully accredited by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) as displayed in its website, and it simply does not make sense that graduates from a course accredited by the government itself is not recognised by the Education Ministry.
“The ministry should look at this solution in order to resolve the shortage of teacher problem in the state.”
Bit, meanwhile, said there were a number of students from Belaga who passed their education courses, but were still unemployed.
“Why can’t the ministry take these students to teach in rural schools?
“We have their names. We can produce the list to the ministry if they genuinely want to assist Sarawakians to serve as teachers.”