Maszlee’s promise on dilapidated schools brings hope for more funds
KUCHING: The Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Research welcomes the statement by federal Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik that he intends to bring an end to dilapidated schools in Sarawak.
The ministry through a press release yesterday said Maszlee’s statement was apt as education is under the purview and responsibility of the federal government.
“With the commitment by the federal minister, we can now hope for more fund allocations to upgrade or rebuild the dilapidated schools.
“In fact, during the tabling of Budget 2018, RM1 billion has been budgeted for such purpose, to be allocated RM500 million in 2018 and 2019 respectively, as we hope the federal government will honour the budget for 2019,” said the statement.
It said there are a total of 1,020 dilapidated schools in Sarawak which are categorised as DS3 (415 schools, 100 per cent wooden, more than 50 years old; all or part of school certified as unsafe by JKR), DS2 (210 schools, more than 75 per cent wooden structure, 40- 50 years old with major structural problem) and DS1 ( 395 schools, 50 per cent wooden structure, 30- 40 years old with minimum structural problems).
The press release also revealed that in addition to the 1,020 dilapidated schools, Sarawak also has 216 schools that are located along riverbanks and are subject to regular flooding.
“Not only does this pose safety issues, but also perennial damage to school assets and the long term solution for these schools is to relocate them to higher grounds.
“Therefore, a large sum of fund allocation is actually required if we are to resolve the issue of dilapidated schools and schools that are affected by flood in order to provide safe and conducive teaching and learning environment for our students and teachers.
“The state has placed its trust on the federal government to discharge their responsibility on education matters.”
The statement also highlighted a remark made by Maszlee during his recent visit to two dilapidated schools in Bintulu, where the minister compared the situation to what his home village used to be like in the 1970s.
It said this shows that while schools in Peninsular Malaysia have been well taken care of, the same cannot be said for schools in Sarawak.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Research also sought to clarify that all matters relating to education, including project development and/or maintenance of schools are directly handled by the federal Education Ministry, and that all decisions, including the scope and design of the projects and the appointment of contractors, are handled by the federal authorities.
“However, a small number of school projects, which were assigned to JKR ( Public Works Department) Sarawak for implementation, were completed by JKR Sarawak satisfactorily.
“A good example is the 116 school upgrading projects that were awarded in 2018. Fifty schools were assigned to be implemented by JKR Sarawak while 66 schools were implemented directly by the federal Education Ministry.
“All the 50 schools under the responsibility of JKR Sarawak were successfully completed on time while the 66 schools under federal Education Ministry encountered many problems and were not completed on time.”
The statement mentioned that for this reason, the Sarawak government is confident that federal projects in the state are best left to be implemented by state agencies to ensure timely delivery.
“We hope that the federal government will consider channelling approved development funds to the state for implementation by relevant state agencies.”