By Christopher Lidom
KUCHING, Oct 21: Batu Kitang assemblyman Lo Khere Chiang has expressed his frustration over a perceived lack of action from the Federal government to address dilapidated government school facilities in his constituency.
Lo said in some of the schools, the roads, drain and septic tanks have collapsed, and have been left in a state of disrepair.
According to him, the football field in one of the schools is also build in a low lying area, which resulted in it being flooded, preventing students from using it.
“I understand that during the construction of the schools, the Federal government had tried to reduce the cost, and built the football field in low areas, which has resulted in flooding.
“After 20 years, it is still the same. I would have expected the Ministry of Education (MOE) through the education department to improve the facilities,” he told reporters during a press conference held at an eatery in Mile 7, here today.
Lo said he is not raising the issue just because the election is near, as he has been on the ground everyday to help build some of the schools’ facilities and has witnessed it firsthand.
“But when I look at the bigger picture, I am very disappointed.
“This school which is in N13 Batu Kitang, which is considered in the middle of Kuching city. I am afraid to think about other schools in rural areas if the school in Batu Kitang is already like this,” he added.
On the same note, Lo pointed out that autonomy on school education and funding should be returned to Sarawak if the Federal government can’t maintain government schools in the State.
He said that he believed that the Sarawak government can do better in terms of maintaining the schools’ facilities.
“I am not asking for more. All I am asking for is the autonomy and the funds that they are using now to pay for Sarawak education, this must come back to us.
“We will fix it ourselves, Sarawak will be able to do a better job than Malaya,” he said. — DayakDaily
