Rep supports school centralisation idea
BAU: A proposal for schools with low enrolment to be merged into centralised schools has received support from Tasik Biru assemblyman Datuk Henry Harry Jinep.
Minister of Education, Science and Technological Research Dato Sri Michael Manyin Jawong said centralising schools could overcome the problem of a lack of specialist teachers and facilities faced by low enrolment schools.
“If we can have a teacher who is specialised in every subject (in the centralised schools), then it will give advantage to the students,” Henry told reporters at his Gawai Dayak open house in Bung Konis near here on Thursday.
He pointed out that in some schools, especially in rural areas, teachers have to teach between two and four subjects, which they are not specialists in.
Henry said centralised schools would also be beneficial in terms of logistics and costs.
“It will also be good for the parents and if all these students can stay in the school’s hostel, it’s good for the people,” he said, adding all students would have access to high quality education.
Henry said centralised schools could also enable the government to expand and improve facilities to make the learning environment more conducive.
On Wednesday, Manyin had pointed out that Sarawak schools rank a lowly 13 out of 15 in overall performance, which he attributed to a lack of facilities and specialist teachers.
He said this is because there are too many schools scattered all over the state, many of which have very low enrolments of 150 students and below.
Manyin also said it is not cost effective to repair and equip schools with low enrolment scattered across rural areas, which usually perform poorly.
If we can have a teacher who is specialised in every subject (in the centralised schools), then it will give advantage to the students. Datuk Henry Harry Jinep, Tasik Biru assemblyman