CM mulls boarding school concept to address various issues affecting schools

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KUCHING: The state government will consider building boarding schools in tandem with its efforts to repair or rebuild dilapidated schools across Sarawak.

Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said the concept of boarding school can help address various issues including rural schools that are dilapidated and schools with low enrolment.

He advised parents to have confidence in boarding schools given that Sarawak had produced quite a number of successful people who were once boarders.

“(Minister of Education, Science and Technological Research Dato Sri Michael) Manyin was a boarder. He was from Serian and went to SMK St Joseph.

“Boarders are all doing very well, they learn to plan their daily activities and during the weekends, they can go home to their parents,” he said when opening SK Landeh in Padawan near here yesterday.

Abang Johari said the state government would work closely with Putrajaya in order to “get the right direction” when it came to education development.

He asserted that Sarawakians, upon completing their studies, must be employable.

Towards this end, he said the state must encourage the use of English language among Sarawakians who would then be able to go global.

Earlier, Manyin said Sarawak was placed 13th among all states in Malaysia in terms of public examination performance.

He attributed the low ranking to the many dilapidated schools in the state and informed Deputy Education Minister Datuk Chong Sin Woon, who was present, that the state had 1,020 dilapidated schools and 415 of them were in critically poor condition.

“Students and teachers who are studying and teaching at dilapidated schools are de-motivated,” pointed out Manyin.

He said even though Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had set aside RM1 billion for Sarawak to fix its dilapidated schools, the state actually needed RM3 billion to RM4 billion to build new schools to replace the dilapidated ones.

Manyin regretted that only 23 per cent of students in Sarawak took up Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects, way below the national target of 60 per cent.

“So I hope parents will encourage their children to take up STEM. If our children do not excel in STEM, how are they going to have a big role in the state’s digital economy development?”

Meanwhile, Chong said SK Landeh was approved under the Second Rolling Plan of 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP) at a cost of RM19.6 million.

He believed that the school would serve the purpose of developing human capital in the Padawan district.

Manyin later refuted Chong’s announcement that the school was built at a cost of RM19.6 million, pointing out that the state added RM2.8 million to cover the cost, bringing the total project cost to RM22.4 million.

Also present was Education Ministry deputy director-general (Education Policy and Development) Datuk Sulaiman Wak.