KAPIT, March 9: Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid has announced that 25 government secondary schools in rural areas in the state will be rebuilt and equipped with state-of-the-art technology.
These schools will be modelled after SMK Balleh here which is the pilot project where amongst other improvements, its new science and computer laboratories will be powered by solar energy.
“I want to make SMK Balleh, which is one of the most rural secondary schools, to be a model for all secondary schools in Sarawak.
“Solar power will be harvested to run IT and science laboratories.
“It will be equipped with all basic facilities needed to educate our students,” said Mahdzir while visiting SMK Balleh today.
Mahdzir further added that for the 25 new schools, the government will first improve the bedding facilities of the dormitories for both boys and girls.
In terms of water supply, he said alternative water supply system Safewater Genie, who is based on gravity feed, would be used instead of the conventional water supply system which involves the building of a water treatment plant.
The system was used because the alternative water supply system in Uma Bakah which is the longhouse of Murum assemblyman Kennedy Chukpai Ugon, has proven to be effective in its consistency in supplying water to the villagers.
Mahdzir, who is the first federal minister to visit SMK Baleh since the establishment of the school in 1986, said the federal government has the political will to improve all the rural dilapidated schools in Sarawak.
The repair of run-down rural schools in Sarawak would kick off with his announcement in SMK Balleh today.
Also present were Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing and Hulu Rajang MP Datuk Wilson Ugak Kumbong. — DayakDaily
