326 Sarawakians eager to pursue teaching career despite unsuccessful application

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Dayang Diana Abang Abdul Nasir

KUCHING (Sept 1): A total of 326 Sarawakians who were unsuccessful in their application to be teachers under the DG41 category in 2021 have not heard any answer yet from the Ministry of Education (MoE) or the State Education Department.

According to a representative of the aspiring teachers, Dayang Diana Abang Abdul Nasir, it was revealed in a debate by education experts from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris on Aug 22, 2022 that the country was short of about 10,000 teachers in urban areas and 4,732 in rural areas.

“A total of 326 Sarawak-born aspiring teachers have applied for teaching posts in 2021 but our applications were not successful. When the interview results were released on May 27, 2022, we were told that we did not meet the desired qualifications,” said Dayang Diana in a statement yesterday.

This is despite the MoE stating that as of July 25, 2022 there was a shortage of 3,182 teachers in Sarawak, she added.

“Therefore, once again we, the 326 Sarawakian aspiring teachers, would like to request support from the Sarawak state government for us to be appointed as DG41 COS PPP teachers under the special intake of Sarawakians for 2022 to cover the shortage of teachers in Sarawak.

“For the information of all parties, until July 25, 2022, a total of 16,381 teachers out of 18,702 have been placed in MoE schools and of that number, Sarawak has received 3,144 teachers, that is, 1,010 new teachers (Sarawakians) in DG41 category, while the rest are from other states in Malaysia. This was revealed in the Parliament on August 4, 2022,” she said, adding the number of new teachers from Sarawak in Category DG41 (1,010) constituted only six per cent of the total 18,702 new teachers.

“We have been waiting for appointments and placements from November 27, 2021.

“In fact, since the interview results were released on May 27, 2022 we have taken various steps to be given the opportunity to become Bumi Kenyalang educators,” she said.

Dayang Diana also said this is despite them going through the required appointment process in 2021.

“We completed the application on the official website of the Postgraduate Diploma in Education Programme (MYPDPP). We have sat for and passed the Teacher Candidate Qualification Test (UKCG). We attended the interview online via Google Meet. We also uploaded our vaccination certificate to show that we had completed two doses and have received a booster dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.

“We received positive feedback from the panel during the interview. We were ready to report for duty as soon as the interview was completed in November 2021 and ready to be placed in any school in Sarawak, whether in the rural or urban areas,” she said.

Nevertheless, she said they will continue to appeal through various channels.

“We take the spirit of the eagle in the slogan of the Sarawak State Education Department which is ‘Fly Sarawak Fly, Fly High’ as our motivation to overcome the obstacle and achieve our dreams.

“We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the elected representatives and members of parliament who have tried to listen to our requests and help us directly or indirectly. May our pure desire to become teachers in Sarawak come true,” she said.