IPG Rajang closure may jeopardise training of specialist Iban Language teachers — DTTG founder

KUCHING: The Dayak ThinkTank Group ( DTTG) does not agree with the federal government’s decision to close down the Teachers Training Institute (IPG) Rajang Campus.

According to DTTG founder Wellie Henry Majang, the closure is deeply felt by the Dayak community as IPG Rajang has been the sole campus in Malaysia that has a Bachelor’s Degree in Iban Language since January 2013.

He feared that the closure of IPG Rajang would jeopardise all efforts to train more specialist teachers in the Iban Language slated for schools across the state.

“This campus, which has been in operation since 1967, is the icon of Meradong, and has produced many trained teachers who serve in all parts of the state.

“We still need this campus since it is strategically located and has complete infrastructures and capable staff. As such, we hope that the relevant ministry would consider excluding this campus from the list of IPGs to be closed across the country,” he said in a statement issued here.

Last year, the federal cabinet decided to close down and turn nine IPGs nationwide, including IPG Rajang and IPG Miri in Sarawak, into Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) centres.

On Friday, Minister of Education, Science and Technological Research Dato Sri Michael Manyin said the state government was against the closure of these two IPGs in Sarawak.

Manyin was quoted in press reports as saying that the state government would formulate its own training programmes for the two IPGs, which would be closed down after the graduation of their present batch of trainees in June 2020.

Manyin added that IPG Miri would be suitable for a TVET centre as it was surrounded by industries, but that his ministry had yet to decide on the programme for IPG Rajang as it would not be suitable to be turned into a TVET centre, seeing that there were no major industrial activities in the area.

Meradong assemblyman Datuk Ding Kuong Hiing had mentioned during the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting in May that the people of Meradong were hoping that IPG Rajang would remain operational.

Ding said IPG Rajang was founded in 1966 by a joint venture between the governments of Malaysia and New Zealand at the time, and was officially declared open by Sarawak’s first governor Tun Abang Openg Sapiee on Oct 31, 1967.

Ding stressed that IPG Rajang was recently tasked with being the centre for Iban Language studies in Sarawak due to its ideal location, where hundreds of longhouses could be accessible for hands-on cultural understanding, along with its ‘ perfect training facilities to aspiring Iban Language teachers’.