KUCHING, Nov 11: The Sarawak government should prioritise the demand for an exception from the requirement of the Federal Ministry of Education’s (MoE) approval for physical development projects in schools in the State and make it the foremost agenda in their relentless pursuit of education autonomy.
The Association of The Boards of Management of Aided Chinese Primary Schools Sri Aman-Betong Division chairman Temenggong Kuek Aik Seng emphasised this issue should take precedence over the above considerations for the proposed new Sarawak’s assessment system for Year Six students.
“That will only burden teachers, schools and children and affect the development of the country’s education assessment system,” he said during a luncheon to celebrate the Confucious Birthday and groundbreaking ceremony for a new block at SJKC Chung Hua Debak in Betong today.
Kueh highlighted the struggles and challenges the SJKC Chung Hua Debak team faced, which spent three years seeking MoE approval to build a new school block.
He shared the difficulties and struggles the school headmaster, Chai Xiao Wen, had to go through in preparing presentations for the Special Project Development Committee to get approval for the project due to MoE regulations enforced under the Education Act since 2021.
“Without approval from MoE, any construction is illegal, and the headmaster could potentially be subject to action.
“This situation had led to delays and hindered the physical development of public schools in Sarawak and causing our children to be denied timely access to deserved facilities, despite development allocations from the elected representatives or Federal government,” he stressed.
Kueh thus urged the Sarawak ministers, deputy ministers and elected representatives to look seriously into the plight of schools and advocate for an exception to the need for MoE’s approval for school development projects in the State. — DayakDaily
