By Karen Bong
KUCHING, March 20: The federal government shows it cares about education matters in the country, including those in Sarawak, by giving allocations to schools, among others.
Democratic Action Party (DAP) Batu Kitang branch chairman Abdul Aziz Isa said this was shown two days ago, where Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Chong Chieng Jen handed over RM50,000 to Majlis Guru Besar (MGB) Padawan.
“This was the first time for MGB Padawan to receive such a big allocation from the PH (Pakatan Harapan) government. The headmasters were really thankful and also surprised to have received such a big amount of money and in such a short span of time — less than one month,” he told a press conference at the DAP headquarters here today.
According to Abdul Aziz, the allocation was approved and channelled following a meeting between the headmasters, Chong and Pending assemblywoman Violet Yong.
“Less than a month later, the allocation was approved. If it was the state government, it would take a few months or even years like, what happened in Batu Kitang, which requested a small grant of RM4,000-RM5,000 for Gawai, but they only received the cheque a year after,” he claimed.
As such, Abdul Aziz hoped the state government would not mislead the public into thinking that the federal government did not care about education matters in Sarawak.
“There are 86 schools in Padawan area, and this allocation is just a first step to help the schools there, especially the 12 schools in Batu Kitang area and 28 schools under Stampin constituency,” he said.
Stampin Parliament Office representatives will be going down to the ground to visit schools and meet the teachers, Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) and schools management boards to see what can be done for these schools, he shared.
“Either they need new buildings, repainting, more grants to carry out sports activities, upgrading of football fields or other facilities; we will see how to help the schools,” he said.
Abdul Aziz stressed that for DAP, these efforts were not about winning votes but for the sake of the future generation. — DayakDaily
