Manyin (second left) accepts a memento from Serian District Council chairman Lim Hock Meng, as Assistant Minister of Agriculture Native Land and Regional Development Datuk Roland Sagah Wee Inn (left) and others look on. — Photo by Roystein Emmor
SERIAN: Minister of Education, Science and Technological Research Dato Sri Michael Manyin has urged community leaders and parents in Tebedu to reconsider the proposal of setting up a centralised school in the district.
He said he was disappointed with the low acceptance from the local community shown after a recent dialogue, where only 26 per cent had agreed to the proposal of closing the smaller schools to make way for the centralised school.
“Unfortunately many of these (parent-teacher associations, or PTAs, and community leaders from) smaller schools rejected this (centralised school) proposal,” he said at the opening ceremony of Landskap Bandar Mutiara Tebedu near here yesterday.
Manyin, who is Tebedu assemblyman, said the key reason behind the centralised school proposal was to facilitate specialised teachers to focus their energy and attention to teach the school-children Mathematics, Science and English more efficiently, rather than assigning many teachers to the smaller schools.
He said it was not enough for the children in Tebedu to just pass their Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) and Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examinations because having the minimum results might not be sufficient for them to continue their studies to institutions of higher learning.
He said based on statistics, the number of students from Tebedu continuing their studies up to degree level had been ‘disappointingly low’ because their foundation, built upon primary and secondary school education, was ‘not good enough’.
“From this area (Tebedu), one village only has one or two degree-holders, whereas in Penrissen and Padawan areas, one village can have 200 to 300 degree-holders. That’s why I urge the community leaders and parents here to prioritise education for the sake of our children. If they don’t have enough qualification, they just cannot find jobs,” he said.
Manyin said with teachers specialised in teaching Mathematics, Science and English subjects being posted at one centralised school, their students could study better and would have stronger foundation than they would have if they were in the smaller schools.
Adding on, he announced that a final dialogue involving his ministry, the PTAs of the affected schools and also the community leaders, would take place at their respective schools on Sept 26, with the objective of convincing them about the benefits and advantages of having a centralised school in their district.
In February, Manyin said the proposed RM350-million centralised school would be built at Kujang Mawang to accommodate pupils from SK Gahat Mawang, SK Kujang Sain, SK Kujang Mawang and SK Tesu.
He said the centralised school concept would solve problems related to schools having low enrolment of students, which often recorded poor results in public examinations.
“We will continue to build the centralised school, where there will be better facilities and better learning environment to encourage the students to perform better in their examinations,” said the minister.
Meanwhile, Manyin said the RM700,000 Landskap Bandar Mutiara Tebedu project kicked off in November last year, and was completed on Aug 15 this year.
Manyin said the construction had cost RM600,000 – the project’s implementor Serian District Office held the RM100,000 balance, slated for landscape improvement through the planting of more trees.