Abdul Yakub Arbi
SIBU: Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik’s proposal for the private sector, especially hotels with swimming pools to offer the facilities to schools for student swimming activities is not feasible for rural schools.
Balingian assemblyman Abdul Yakub Arbi pointed out that there are no hotels with swimming pools in these places.
In this regard, he opined that feasibility study should be made before putting up such proposal.
Maszlee had reportedly said discussions on the matter would be held with the hotels so they could work with the schools and treat the move as a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
On this, Abdul Yakub said: “It is a good idea but not feasible for rural school because there is no hotel with swimming pools in the rural areas.
“Therefore, feasibility study should be made before putting up proposal because the process of getting the approval might not be as simple as he (Maszlee) considered (if he ever think) it to be…particularly for the state like Sarawak…where the schools are scattered all over the state – far from the hotel with swimming pools…The whole idea is not right to say and in fact stinking.”
He added: “Furthermore, it is very costly to bring students to hotels in nearby town just for swimming lessons even if the operators consented to using their facility. For us in Balingian, the nearest town is in Mukah which is about an hour-drive.”
Abdul Yakub told The Borneo Post this today when asked if the proposal is feasible for rural school children.
Parent-Teacher-Association (PTA) chairman of SMK Agama Sibu Mohd Safree Mohd Kassim echoed Abdul Yakub’s view, adding that the matter should first be brought for discussion with stakeholders.
He highlighted that a comprehensive study ought to be carried out to determine the feasibility of implementing such idea.
“The idea does not make sense at all and will further complicate the compliance with the standard operating procedures (SOP) from hotel management and school from the aspects of safety, knowledge acquisition and logistics among others.
Mohd Safree believes that the pool size in hotel would not be able to accommodate the student capacity of a class, let alone the whole school.
“To the best of my knowledge, I think the pool is only for the hotel guests,” he added.