By Karen Bong
KUCHING, Nov 8: The Sarawak government has agreed to give a matching grant for the expansion of Riam Hill International Secondary School (RHISS) with a new campus in Senadin.
Premier of Sarawak Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg, in announcing this, said that Yayasan Sarawak will also look into the request by the school to send eligible Sarawakian students to study there.
“As I am the chairman of Yayasan Sarawak, yes, we will arrange to send students from the lower income group to study here because you have a high standard of education.
“They will have a bright future,” he said when officiating at Riam Hill International Secondary School (RHISS) in Miri. The programme was livestreamed by Sarawak Public Communications Unit (Ukas) today.
With the opening of RHISS, Abang Johari urged the students to study hard and acquire new knowledge and skills which will be required by Sarawak as the State transitions to the new and green economy.
RHISS, which adopts the Cambridge international school curriculum, opened its first intake in January this year. In addition, Chinese and Bahasa Malaysia (BM) languages are compulsory subjects. Students will be taking the IGCSE exam in Year 11.
According to Riam Education Group executive chairman Associate Prof Dr Pauline Ho, the school currently has three classes for Year 7, 8 and 10 with a total of 52 students.
“The total cost of construction and facilities come close to RM8.2 million. It only took two years to complete. More facilities will be required for next year as we will be in full-fledged operation with the opening of classes from Year 7 to 11.
“Indeed, the presence of RHISS in Miri offers an opportunity for a greater number of students in the northern region of Sarawak to be nurtured and benefit from the high standard of Cambridge international school education,” she said.
On the expansion, Ho revealed that a group of generous people from a company had donated a parcel of land measuring about 15 acres to Riam Road Secondary School for education purposes.
“This is purely out of their love for education. I want to thank the directors of Miri North City Development Sdn Bhd for giving the land to the school. With that, the next phase of expansion will be in Senadin,” she added.
DUN Speaker Tan Sri Datuk Amar Mohamad Asfia Awang Nassar, Deputy Premier Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian, Minister of Transport Dato Sri Lee Kim Shin, Deputy Minister of Tourism Datuk Sebastian Ting, Miri Mayor Adam Yii and Riam Road Private Secondary School board of directors chairman Dato Sri Law Kiu Kiong were present. — DayakDaily
