NGO wants 2018 school mid-term holiday to coincide with Gawai Dayak

MIRI: Non- governmental organisation Terabai Menua ( TM) yesterday expressed dissatisfaction and objection to the 2018 school mid-term holiday schedule.

Its president Mark Jenggo said the slated start of the midyear school holiday next year falls after Gawai Dayak instead of coinciding with the celebration, as was the scenario all these years.

“Gawai is one of the biggest festivals celebrated by the majority of Sarawakians, but putting the school holiday to start on June 9 complicates parents to arrange for the holiday.

“It is insensitive of MOE (Ministry of Education) to arrange the holiday to start only after the Gawai Day celebration ends. TM thinks it is not fair,” he said in a statement yesterday.

The recently-released schedule by the Ministry of Education went viral on social media after it was discovered that the mid-year holiday was no longer scheduled for early June.

Mark added that as Gawai Dayak falls on a Friday and Saturday next year, it would be more difficult for Dayak parents who work out of state to come home to celebrate because apart from Sarawak, June 1 is not a public holiday in other states and therefore still a schooling day.

He said if the government does not look into the matter with more thought and agrees with the school holiday setup by MOE, TM feels compelled to protest as it represents the Dayaks.

“TM hopes the schedule that went viral on social media is not the official schedule, and we want the government to be more sensitive and to consider arranging the school mid-term holidays to start from early June as in previous years.

“We hope the date of the holiday can be reviewed before the official schedule is issued,” he explained.

It is believed that the June holidays are shifted next year to coincide with Hari Raya Adilfriti which falls on June 15.