‘52 SJKCs still waiting for allocations from MoE’
KUCHING: Fifty- two aided Chinese primary schools (SJKC) in Kuching, Samarahan and Serian are bidding for over RM10 million from the Ministry of Education (MoE) to carry out their respective development projects this year.
They have each requested between RM18,040 and RM3 million for repair and renovation works, according to Jonathan Chai, president of the Federation of Boards of Management for SJKC of Kuching, Samarahan and Serian divisions.
However, none of the applicants had received any disbursement from the MoE as of Thursday.
It is worth noting that Sarawak has been allocated at least RM8 million annually in the past.
“To the best of my knowledge, a total of 52 out of 56 of our member schools in Kuching, Samarahan and Serian divisions have submitted their applications for the allocation of funds from the RM50 million specifically provided in Budget 2018.
“These applications which range from RM18,040 to RM3 million cover a wide scope of repair and renovation works including rewiring, repainting, repairing of buildings infested with termites, buying of tables and chairs, and upgrading of toilets and sports facilities,” Chai told The Borneo Post yesterday.
He said even though these schools had submitted their applications to the MoE, he would not be too optimistic about the requests being met due to the limited funds of the ministry.
Despite so, Chai appealed to the MoE to give due consideration to the schools in Sarawak.
“Especially those in the rural and coastal areas should be given priority as some schools are in dire need of repair and yet they are hampered by limited financial resources.”
He said the schools that had submitted their fund requests were still waiting for the ministry to dole out the money.
“At this juncture, we are still eagerly waiting for the funds to be channelled to the respective schools.”
Chai said he had previously called for the urgent release of funds because the best time to carry out renovation and repair work is the long school holiday as there will be minimum interruption to school lessons.
He felt that in the event that the federal government was unable to meet the needs of these schools, the Sarawak government could play its role by helping them.
“We hope that the state government could provide a lending hand as education should always be accorded top priority in our agenda for development,” he added.
Chai pointed out that the application for funds from MoE was slightly complicated this year.
“Every school was required to apply for an E-Vendor’s code before you could actually submit your application through online internet service.
“The application must be submitted together with a quotation for the proposed items of repair or renovation as well as the statement of bank account of the board of management of the school concerned,” he said.
Though the federation is looking after 56 schools in the three divisions, there are over 200 SJKC across Sarawak.