KUCHING, Nov 26: Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii today urged Minister of Education, Science and Technological Research Dato Sri Michael Manyin Jawong to stop politicising education issues to create negative perceptions against the federal government.
In a statement today, Dr Yii maintained that education issues should go beyond partisan politics and that both sides should be working together to improve the conditions of schools in the state.
He was commenting on Manyin’s recent statement that Sarawak was unable to connect 113 primary schools to the main electric grid because its federal counterpart had yet to give consent. Manyin also disclosed that he had written to the Education Ministry in June on the matter but the ministry had yet to reply.
“Since education is something important, I believe such issues goes beyond partisan politics. I will follow up with the education ministry on the matter to make sure that the schools get the required infrastructure and amenities for the benefit of the students and teachers in all those schools,” said Dr Yii, who revealed that he was made aware of the correspondence between the Education Ministry and Manyin’s office on this subject matter sometime last month.
He claimed the federal ministry had responded on Oct 24 to request for details of the proposal by the state government, and Manyin had replied on Oct 31.
“I was informed that the Ministry of Education is reviewing the matter holistically, including doing the necessary ground studies, and will be responding to the matter soon.
“While I believe such matters should be expedited due to the urgency of the matter, however, the evidence of such letters and correspondence proves that Manyin is outrightly lying by saying that the Ministry of Education had not replied to him since June.
“This is an irresponsible act to try to paint a negative picture of the federal government in an attempt to push (away) the blame of the dire and dilapidated state of our schools in Sarawak due to long neglect by the previous Barisan Nasional government, which he and the state GPS (Gabungan Parti Sarawak) government was part of all these years,” Dr Yii pointed out. — DayakDaily
