CM: 415 schools to be rebuilt

Sarawak to use RM1bil allocation to replace damaged buildings

KUCHING: Sarawak will use the RM1bil allocation for dilapidated schools under Budget 2018 to start rebuilding 415 such schools.

Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said the target was to rebuild the critical schools over the next two years, after which the state government would request for more funds to rebuild the other affected schools.

“Some of these school buildings are not safe for the students,” he told reporters after opening the new SK Landeh in Padawan, near here, yesterday.

Abang Johari said the rebuilding works would be implemented by the state government using local contractors monitored by the state Education Department and Public Works Department.

“There will be a committee, which will include the Education Ministry, but the decisions will be ours. The work will be done simultaneously in the southern, central and northern regions of the state.

“Some areas will use Industria lised Building System (IBS) while others will use conventional construction,” he added.

Abang Johari said the state Education, Science and Technological Research Ministry was now planning the scope of the works, including equipping the schools with science labs and teachers’ quarters.

He said the rebuilding would also include merging lowenrolment schools in rural areas into centralised schools.

Some 200 such schools had been identified for merging, he said.

“In the first phase, a centralised school will be built in each rural constituency to serve as a model.

“This will make it easier for parents to agree to the merging of the schools,” Abang Johari said.

Deputy Education Minister Datuk Chong Sin Woon said the new SK Landeh was approved under the second rolling plan of the 10th Malaysia Plan at a cost of RM19.6mil. It was completed in Nov 16 last year.

The school was rebuilt at a new site after its former location was damaged by floods in 2003 and 2004. Construction commenced in 2013 and the school began operating at the new building in January.

“I’m confident that this school provides excellent education facilities and a conducive learning environment,” Chong said.

“Students here will have the opportunity to do well in their studies and be on par with their peers elsewhere.”

Welcome: SK Landeh pupils performing a traditional dance to welcome Abang Johari (third from right) and Chong (second from right) to the school’s opening ceremony.