SIBU, June 24: The State government has been urged to ensure that Sarawakians who have graduated as qualified teachers but are still unemployed are given a chance to be recruited for the newly created 18,702 teaching posts.
In addition, the State Government should also keep to its promise of making sure that 90 per cent of teachers teaching in the state are locals, said Kenyah Uma Baha Women’s Association Sibu chairperson, Umie Liau.
She said that there are many young Sarawakians including those from Belaga who have graduated in the teaching field who are still without jobs.
“Many of my friends revealed that their children, who graduated as teachers in 2019 from local institutions like Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI), are still unemployed until today, and their children were not even called for an interview,” she said.
She pointed out that these youth had chosen the field of education for their degree course but after their convocation, they had found it hard to get employed as the Education Ministry could not adsorb them.
“I really feel sorry for these Sarawakians, especially since many of them are from the Belaga district, the same place where I come from.
“Truly, they need employment. It’s time for them to support their ageing parents financially. They purposely chose the education field for their degrees. Why is the government not giving them teaching jobs?” she asked.
She said if this unemployment issue is not looked into, younger Sarawakians in the future would shun from being teachers.
Unie also wants the state Education, Science and Technological Research Minister, Datuk Amar Michael Manyin to state how many of the new 18,702 graduate teachers (Grade DG 41) posts, will be given to the State.
“Please do find out the actual figure and demand from the Federal government that Sarawakians want that particular shortage filled up by all the Sarawakians graduates who are still unemployed, of course by giving priority to those graduates in the education field,” she said.
Senior Education Minister Dr Radzi Jidin had on June 22 said as the country was lacking school teachers, the government would be recruiting 18,702 graduate teachers (Grade DG41) on a one-off basis to meet the teachers’ shortage.
Dr Radzi stressed that the posting of these teachers would take place in stages effective October 2021. — DayakDaily
