KUCHING, June 18: Sarawak Bumiputera Teachers Union (KGBS) president Ahmad Malie today thanked Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik for his swift action in resolving the problem of shortage of diesel for generator sets in rural schools in the state.
Ahmad said the issue had been a concern for some time now, and KGBS was supposed to raise this matter during its coming meeting with the Education Ministry.
“It is unfortunate that the provision of diesel for the schools’ generator sets were delayed on the part of the contractor, thus affecting the schools’ operations.
“We fully support the Education Ministry’s move to provide fresh allocation for the purchase of diesel, which would be channelled through the Education Department to ensure transparency. The department will directly handle the distribution of diesel fuel to schools needing it,” he told reporters during his Hari Raya Aidilfitri open house near Batu Kawa here this afternoon.
It was important to look after the education and welfare of the affected teachers and students, he said.
On the yet-to-be-confirmed meeting with the ministry, Ahmad said he would raise issues such as teacher shortage, the need for more allocation for school operations and management, and to speed up the placement of teachers who had finished their training.
He would also propose giving more opportunities to teachers to pursue the National Professional Qualification for Educational Leads (NPQL) training course, which would qualify them to become headmasters or principals.
“Now that we have a new government and a minister who is teacher-friendly, we hope the issues we will be tabling would also be dealt with promptly,” he said. — DayakDaily
