Dr Annuar: State, federal ministries to tackle dilapidated schools together

SIBU: The state Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Research will work together with the Federal Education Ministry to tackle the issues of dilapidated schools holistically and promptly.

Assistant Minister of Education and Technological Research Dr Annuar Rapaee thanked the federal government especially Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Minister of Education Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid for answering the state’s call to hasten the process of rebuilding and repairing dilapidated schools.

Ahmad Zahid visited SMK Rosli Dhoby and SK Ulu Sg Salim here yesterday. Both schools are classified as Category 3 dilapidated schools ( DS3).

“I am glad that through the visit, we are able to show them how serious is the problem (of these schools),” Dr Annuar, who is also Assistant Minister of Housing and Public Health said Thursday.

He added: “To me, I attribute this to the commissioning of Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Research in the state, which played an important role recently to collect all the data and voiced out the urgent needs in Sarawak to be given priority in terms of dilapidated schools.”

There are 1,020 dilapidated schools in Sarawak, of which 415 are under Category 3, while 210 in Category 2 and 395 in Category 1.Category 3 dilapidated schools are the worst among all categories.

According to the Nangka assemblyman, the state ministry will work with the federal ministry to facilitate and ensure this issue of dilapidated schools can be settled promptly.