Adam acknowledges that Sarawak is still short of teachers, but he also points out that many teaching candidates are not fully aware of how the recruitment process is being carried out. — Bernama photo
SIBU (Sept 5): The Ministry of Education (MoE) has identified the different teaching vacancies based on specific subject requirements, says Sarawak Teachers Union (STU) president Adam Prakash Abdullah.
According to him, this serves to avoid any mismatch between the candidates’ qualifications and the ability to teach the subjects at school.
“In this regard, STU hopes that the candidates would understand the issue and not make assumption as to why they have not been appointed,” said Adam when asked to comment about the issue of 326 Sarawakians who were unsuccessful in their application to become teachers under the DG41 category in 2021, having not received any reply from the MoE or the Education Department.
In a statement, Dayang Diana Abang Abdul Nasir, who represented this group of aspiring teachers, said it was revealed in a debate by education experts from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris on Aug 22 this year that the country was short of about 10,000 teachers in the urban areas, and 4,732 in the rural areas.
“A total of 326 Sarawak-born aspiring teachers had 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,” Dayang Diana was quoted as having said.
On this, Adam remarked: “We empathise with the aspiring candidates. Yes, Sarawak is still short of teachers and I believe many out there, including the candidates, are not fully aware of how the recruitment process is being carried out.
“A while ago, the SPP (Education Service Commission) was also criticised for not appointing these teachers, but the actual fact was that this was beyond their powers at that time.
“The MoE actually have identified the different teaching vacancies based on specific subject requirements. This has nothing to do with Sarawakians not being appointed to vacancies in Sarawak; this has nothing to do with race or region, but (it is) more towards (having) the qualified candidates to fill in the appropriate vacancies, based on the subjects to be taught.”
Adam said the STU had always appreciated the willingness of these candidates to serve in Sarawak and it believed that they would be appointed if they met the specific subject requirements.
“We do not want the MoE to simply rope in any graduate from any discipline to fill in the vacancies as this could cause a mismatch between their qualifications and the ability to teach the subjects at school.
“Having said this, the STU welcomes all qualified candidates to serve in Sarawak and help improve education in the state,” said Adam.