STU welcomes timely setting up of special committee to tackle teachers’ shortage woes

KUCHING: Sarawak Teachers Union ( STU) welcomes the Education Ministry’s move to set up a special committee in its effort to look into ways to tackle the issue of teachers’ shortage plaguing several states in the country.

Its president Jisin Nyud said such initiative is very timely and wise in order to find an effective solution to the problem.

“We hope this committee will comprise representatives from the affected states including Sarawak,” he said when contacted here yesterday.

Jisin said this whencommenting on the announcement made by Deputy Education Minister Teo Nie Ching that a special committee to study ways to tackle the shortage of teachers in several states, especially Johor, Selangor, Sabah and Sarawak, has been set up by the ministry.

Teo was quoted as saying that among the factors which contributed to the teachers’ shortage in these four states were the high cost of living there and the location of the schools which are in the interior areas.

“It is still under control, but we need to find a quick solution, and one of the things we are considering is increasing the allowance to attract more teachers to teach in the affected areas,” he said.

Teo added that in the case of Sabah and Sarawak, the ministry had implemented the 90:10 policy, with 90 per cent local teachers and 10 per cent teachers from outside the two states.

“So far, the ministry has reached 87 per cent of local teachers in Sabah and Sarawak,” she disclosed.

Meanwhile, Jisin also suggested that the ministry consider allocating special allowances for Sarawak- born teachers who serve in rural and interior parts of Sarawak, to ease their financial burden when they need to return to their home towns.

He explained that such allowances are only given to Sarawakian teachers serving in the peninsula or Sabah, and peninsula or Sabahan teachers serving in Sarawak.

“Those Sarawakian teachers also need to travel far if they serve those remote schools. For example, a teacher from Kuching may get transferred to teach in rural Limbang. We need to consider the costs involved due to such transfer.

“Details like these are among the factors which may be discouraging Malaysian youths from becoming teachers,” Jisin said.