KUCHING, Oct 14: Senator Robert Lau Hui Yew has questioned the Federal government over the lack of funding for education especially the building of schools in Sibujaya township under the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP).
He noted there is an urgent need for schools to be built in Sibujaya township due to the rising number of students, but there was no allocation or funding provided by the Federal government under the 12MP to build schools there.
Lau noted two schools have been approved to be built in Sibujaya township under the 10th Malaysia Plan (2011-2015) but as of present, he has yet to receive any news of the construction of such schools.
He said there was a mismatch between planning and implementation while 12MP, which is a comprehensive and massive plan for Malaysia’s development in the next five years will remain “just a plan” unless there is proper implementation especially for Sabah and Sarawak.
“The new township of Sibujaya, which caters for the rural urban migrants with a population of more than 33,000 people, is seeing an exploding student population.
“There is only one national primary and one secondary school with 1,855 and 2,265 students respectively.
“There is a SJKC, Thian Hua, in Sibujaya that have 750 students. The school is overcrowded too with nearly 60 per cent of students being Iban, all of whom are first generation rural urban migrants.
“The desperate need for more schools is known by the local education officers. Two schools have been approved to be built in Sibujaya under the 10MP.
“Sadly, there is no news and it just remains a plan despite being approved more than 10 years ago.
“I have asked last year and this year on the progress of the proposed two schools. So far, there is no positive reply,” he said in his debate speech on the 12MP in Parliament. — DayakDaily
