The front view of the wooden classroom block that has been vacated.
SIBU: A wooden classroom block at SK Perbandaran Sibu No 4, which was vacated in 2016 after it was found to be structurally unsafe, may reopen its gates following an assessment carried out by a special officer of the Housing and Local Government Ministry today to see if it can be repaired and made whole again.
The officer, George Chen, told The Borneo Post when met at the school that he was determining whether it should be among the 37 dilapidated schools in Sarawak which are to be repaired under an arrangement between the state and federal governments.
“We wanted to take a look at this (school) building whether it has been included in the first phase as part of the 37 dilapidated schools in Sarawak that will be fixed this year.
“If it does not fall under this batch then we will put forward a proposal that this dilapidated building should be given immediate attention,” Chen said, pointing out that he was requested to assess the school by Batu Lintang assemblyman See Chee How, who is special officer to Works Minister Baru Bian.
“I was told this (wooden) building is very rundown and dangerous and had been certified as unsafe,” Chen said.
The corridor of the first floor of the wooden classroom block.
The wooden block houses eight classrooms and had been vacated by order of the Public Works Department (JKR) which certified the building as unsafe.
Facing the main entrance of the school, the wooden structure is believed to be termites-infested.
This has compelled the two laboratories, living skills room and ping pong room to be turned into makeshift classrooms.
This town school built in 1963 has 917 school children, including 44 pre-schoolers.
It was learned that previously the school had applied to the Ministry of Education (KPM) to build a new building to replace the existing wooden classroom block.
Meanwhile, an experienced contractor who is presently engaged to repair and reconstruct dilapidated schools told The Borneo Post that the construction of a concrete block of eight to 12 classrooms, two or three-storeys high, including amenities using will cost between RM1.3 to RM1.8 million and does not include engineering plans.
He said construction would take up to five months.
The cramped PPKI classroom, which caters for 39 special needs children from Year 1 to Six.
To make matters worse, a PPKI (Special Education Integration Programme) classroom which is just a stone’s throw away from the dilapidated wooden block was partitioned into six units to cater for 39 children with special needs from Year 1 to Six.
Chen said it was too cramped as Year 1 to Six are all combined into one classroom, partitioned into six units.
“It is too congested and certainly not conducive for learning.
“We will forward the matter to the Works Ministry to be forwarded to the Ministry of Education to request for some funds to relocate the classroom,” he said.
Meanwhile, Baru had said recently that the first phase, 37 dilapidated schools in Sarawak would be fixed this year using the RM350 million fund allocated by the Ministry of Finance.
The other dilapidated schools in town include SMK Rosli Dhoby, where a wooden hostel, which houses about 30 boys, has been affected by termites, while a three-storey classroom block has been vacated by order of JKR which certified the building as unsafe in 2017.