SIBU, Aug 23: A total of 200 dilapidated schools in the State will be repaired and upgraded from the 476 such schools in total identified.
Saying this to reporters during his visit to three such schools in Sibu, Selangau and Tatau today, Minister for Education, Innovation and Talent Development, Datuk Roland Sagah said Phase 1 of the project would be carried out this year.
The three schools are SK Penghulu Imban Sibu, SK Batu 36 in Selangau dan SK Sanggan Iban in Tatau.
“Though the government has identified 1,022 dilapidated schools throughout Sarawak, a study conducted by the Ministry of Education revealed that only about 476 of them need to be repaired and upgraded,” he said.
Explaining, Sagah said as Phase 1 involved 200 such schools only, the rest of the schools will be repaired and upgraded under the second and third phases.
Touching on the three schools, he said the government had allocated a total sum of RM22 million for repair and upgrading works.
“According to the breakdown, SK Penghulu Imban will need RM7.9 million, SK Batu 36 (RM4.9 million) and SK Sanggan Iban (RM8 million). Work on SK Batu Selangau 36 is now more than 80 per cent completed. We hope it can be completed before the new year as the contractor has pledged to get it done by middle of September,” he added.
The projects for this school, he said involved building a new quarters, a dining hall and a toilet.
As for SK Sanggan Iban, the minister said it involved constructing a four-storey classroom block.
“My ministry will from time to time monitor closely, the development works on these three schools. At present I am satisfy with the work progress although there are several constraints that the contractor needs to pay more attention to caused by the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said. — DayakDaily
