By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, Sept 18: The Sarawak government will build a new residential block to accommodate boarding students at Yayasan Sarawak International Secondchool (YSISS) in Petra Jaya here.
Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg noted that the State government intends to provide a fully residential school at YSISS.
“However, I saw only 70 to 80 (students) are residential, and the rest are day school (day students).
“The reason being not enough space (and), not enough buildings but today, we are going to build another block for these residential students here in this school,” he said during the school’s ‘Fun Ride and A Moment with Premier of Sarawak’ event today.
Meanwhile, YSISS Petra Jaya principal Bahtiar Afandi in his speech earlier, said presently, the school can only take in 82 students while 34 are commuting daily due to the constraints in hostel capacity.
He also mentioned that instead of the total of 116 pupils, the school projected to have 200 pupils and is now offering placements for more students to apply.
To qualify, pupils must achieve a minimum requirement of Band 4 for ‘Pentaksiran Bilik Darjah’ (Classroom-Based Assessment) and sit for the YSISS Entrance Assessment.
Under the Entrance Assessment, the four subjects tested are Bahasa Melayu, English Language, Science, and Mathematics.
On the school fee, pupils from the B40 group are fully funded, while the M40 pupils must pay RM300 per yearly quarter (equivalent to RM100 per month), and T20 pupils pay RM1,050 per yearly quarter (about RM300 per month).
The YSISS Petra Jaya is one of the five international schools the Sarawak government aims to set up, with the other four in Serian, Sibu, Bintulu and Miri.
For tertiary education, the State government also owns a training centre, Centre of Technical Excellence Sarawak (Centexs) and four higher learning institutions, namely Curtin University, Swinburne University, University of Technology Sarawak (UTS), and i-Cats University College.
Also present were Sarawak Deputy Premier Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian; State Secretary Dato Sri Mohamad Abu Bakar Marzuki; Deputy Minister for Education, Innovation and Talent Development, Dr Annuar Rapaee; Education Advisor at Sarawak Premier’s Office Datuk Amar Michael Manyin Jawong; Yayasan Sarawak director Mersal Abang Rosli; and Sarawak Education Department director Dr Azhar Ahmad. — DayakDaily
