KUCHING, July 31: The dilapidated old block at SK St Alban Sg Tapang shows that there is insufficient funding from Unit for Other Religions (Unifor) in the Premier of Sarawak’s Department.
Special assistant to Sarawak Democratic Action Party (DAP) chief Chong Chieng Jen, Michael Kong Feng Nian, said the school is supposed to be able to receive financial allocation from Unifor to make improvements to the school especially when the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) State government has been bragging about its billions in reserves.
“We must again stress that GPS has been the State government since independence. Under its rule, GPS has allowed 1,022 schools to become dilapidated.
“Over the years, dilapidated schools have become more and more rampant under the rule of the GPS government. This shows that GPS does not put any priority into education and the welfare of our children,” he said in a statement today.
At the same time, Kong said GPS is dragging its feet in resolving these school issues despite all the big announcements by the Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg.
“All these are policy matters which DAP, as a responsible political party, should highlight and raise to pressure the authorities to buck up.
“We shall continue to voice out on these issues consistently without any fear or pressure from parties,” he added.
On Friday (July 29), Kong represented Chong who is the Stampin MP, to hand over a cheque for RM20,000 to the school.
During the visit, he had seen the old school block which he described as “unsightly” and could pose a danger to students and teachers as part of the roof could crumble anytime.
He also noted that Unifor has given the school some money for the classrooms but he stressed that the money must be used for the construction of new classrooms and cannot be spent to fix or renovate the existing dilapidated classrooms.
Following this, Kong believed that the money channeled by Unifor to the school was insufficient to be used to construct the new classrooms.
However, the school’s headmistress Redis Rawes yesterday (July 30) has come forward to rebuke the statement by saying that the old block was only a small picture of the SK St Alban Sg Tapang, which Kong used as a political spin.
She said the school is actually beautiful with good buildings. Meanwhile, the old block was no longer being used and has been inaccessible by the school fraternity with a “No Entry” sign being put up.
She also claimed that the school already has development plans to demolish the old block pending several processes.
Following the series of events, the headmistress also mentioned that it has put her in a position where she could lose her profession and may be subject to disciplinary action after Kong allegedly stated that she had sought the assistance of DAP to write to the Ministry of Education (MOE) to pressure for the school’s development.
“In fact, I didn’t say anything like what was being reported. Now I feel they are using our school issue for their political gain, and I personally feel disturbed by the picture and the media report,” she said. — DayakDaily
