Masing upset SMK Baleh without basic facilities for students

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Belayong (fourth right) receives the cheque on behalf of SMK Baleh from Masing, as others look on.

KAPIT: Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Masing is disappointed that SMK Baleh near here is not properly equipped.

He could not believe that the government school was without desks and chairs for students, and that the hostels did not have pillows and mattresses for the boarders.

“This is a government school with some 40 teachers and 240 students from Form 1 to Form 5. I am very disappointed because it is not properly equipped.

Classrooms are without students’ desks and chairs. The students are forced to sleep on the floor because the hostels are without pillows and mattresses,” he lamented.

He said without the necessary and basic things the students would not be able to study properly, thus defeating the purpose of sending them to school.

“If they (state Education Department) want our students to study like human beings, don’t treat them like animals.

“I want the Education Department to take action immediately to address this problem. The department must be sensitive to the needs of the rural schools.

They also need to be well-equipped like schools in the urban areas,” the Baleh assemblyman told The Borneo Post at his residence here on Saturday evening after presenting a government grant of RM11,000 to the school.

The cheque was received by Kapit Resident Joseph Belayong on behalf of SMK Baleh.

Masing noted that there were about 200 mattresses at the Kapit Resident Office – used during the ‘Sejiwa Senada’ programme on April 24 to 27 in 2015 – that was being held here.

“After discussion with the Kapit Resident, I want these mattresses to be sent to SMK Baleh for the boarders. I have allocated RM11,000 to SMK Baleh for buying bed sheets, pillows and for covering the cost of transportation up to the school,” he said, adding he has also directed for 500 chairs to be sent to the school.

Present at the function were a political secretary to the chief minister Nicholas Kudi Jantai, Bukit Mabong district officer Douglas Pungga, heads of government departments and community leaders.