Set up health and safety committee for schools, says Chang
SIBU: The Education Ministry should set up a health and safety committee playing an advisory role to the ministry with regard to the safety of schools, especially where there are complaints of old wiring in the buildings which can cause short circuit and fire.
Bukit Assek assemblywoman Irene Chang said this committee should consist of local stakeholders working in tandem with education bodies at both the state and national levels. The committee should be allowed to take part in annual inspection of the schools concerned, she suggested.
“Although the cause of the fire at SK Batu Bungan in Baram last Wednesday has yet to be ascertained, the Education Ministry has to realize that the appalling conditions of most of our rural schools are health and safety hazards to both teachers and students,” she said at a press conference here yesterday afternoon.
Also present were Sibu MP Oscar Ling and Lanang MP Alice Lau.
Chang said this when commenting on the fire which killed teacher Catherine Janet Tiwi, 25, at SK Batu Bungan school.
She said Catherine’s death should be the last wake-up call for both the state and federal governments to work together to install and upgrade all the basic facilities in the rural schools.
Currently, there are 428 rural schools in Sarawak which still do not have treated water supply while 371 schools are still fully dependent on generator sets for power and thus cannot enjoy 24-hour electricity supply.
She also said in recent years, there was much publicity concerning the 1,020 schools which are dilapidated and had obviously contributed to mishaps like the collapsed hostel at SK Punan Ba in Belaga in 2011.
“The previous federal government under BN had failed to allocate sufficient funds to repair and rebuild these schools while the previous state government also under BN had failed to ensure sufficuient funds were allocated to our schools,” she lamented.
While the new Education Minister’s brainstorming on school reforms and policies is good news, Chang said the Education Ministry of the PH government should set their priorities right especially where it concerned the schools in the rural and interior of Sarawak.
“These schools require urgent attention in getting basic necessities like supply of clean water, 24-hour electricity and proper school structure with good facilities rather than policy reforms.
“They are being neglected to the point of being dangerous and a daily threat to the teachers and students like the hostel at SK Punan Ba in Belaga which collapsed in 2011,” she said.
Chang said all potential risks at the schools have to be removed or minimised as soon as possible.
Referring to Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg ‘s remark of not understanding why the Education Ministry was not taking proactive measures to connect schools to available power grib but chose to use disesel-powered generators, Chang said such statement was misleading.
“As the Chief Minister, he should know best the problem of dilapidated schools and lack of basic necessities were the result of poor administration of both the previous federal and state government under BN.
“This problem had been highlighted again and again by our PH representatives in Sarawak over the years and to which the Sarawak government just brushed aside by saying that it was a federal matter.
“What we see today is the rotten fruits of yesteryear’s mismanagement by the BN government.
“It is therefore in bad taste that the Chief Minister should make the remark in the public domain to try to belitte PH government when the PH government has to clean up the mess created by the previous government,” she said.