Marcus Hugo Matu Lejau
MIRI (June 21): The Ministry of Education (MoE) should prioritise locals and maintain the 90 per cent ratio for Sarawakians when filling the shortage of teachers in the state, said Long Lama Democratic Action Party (DAP) chairman Marcus Hugo Matu Lejau.
The former educationist said in a statement today the announcement by Senior Education Minister Datuk Mohd Radzi Md Jidin that 18,702 grade DG41 teachers would be hired through a special “one-off” recruitment drive beginning July 7 was good news for all stakeholders.
“The big shortage of teachers must have been a burden for schools and teachers to function effectively to provide quality education. This one-off large scale approach taken by MoE would hopefully enable the vacancies to be filled as soon as possible,” he said.
Marcus stressed, however, that the vacancies especially in Sarawak should be filled by the locals.
“This is not being parochial but to give more chances to our local graduates as they are more adaptable with the culture and familiar with the surroundings especially when required to serve in rural areas.
“Some may not have graduated with teaching degrees but hope they may be considered using a holistic approach as mentioned by the MoE minister,” he said.
Marcus lamented that he was disappointed that MoE did not take action earlier to tackle the shortage of teachers.
He pointed out that MoE should have a good data management system to help effective planning and strategies for projecting the number of teachers required and their deployment to the schools.
“The supply of teachers based on the required options should be worked out with the universities and institutes of teacher education to avoid mismatch of subject options needed and to have the required numbers.
“MoE should not allow too many vacancies in schools for too long as it affects the school management in planning and implementing strategies and programmes for the students effectively,” he said.
He also pointed out that the shortage of teachers would affect quality of education as teachers not trained for the subject are forced to teach.
Recruitment, Marcus said, should be done annually to ensure shortages are at manageable numbers.
On Sunday, Mohd Radzi said MOE will carry out the one-off recruitment drive to address shortages of teachers especially in states like Selangor, Johor, Sabah and Sarawak.