Where's the truth in BN's ‘Janji Ditetapi’ when
there's no money to repair and maintain schools in Sarawak, asks
parents in rural Sarawak.
KUCHING:
The Education Ministry has no money to repair and maintain schools in
Sarawak and that now appears to be a fact especially since the
allocation for Sarawak and Sabah in Budget 2013 has been cut down to 20%
of its previous amount.
In last October’s Budget 2013 announcement, education allocations for
Sarawak and Sabah in 2013 stood at RM98 milllion. It was RM424 million
in 2012.
If this sharp drop didn’t hit the folk here then, it has now.
SMK Bau, the oldest school in Bau, with 1,990 students and 550 borders is in dire need of funds.
So adverse are the conditions in the school and poor rural parents
worried about their children’s safety are doing their own repairs to the
bunkers and lockers in the school.
How is Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin going to deal with the
startling disclose that numerous submissions by the school to his
ministry for funds had elicited a no-funds response?
“It’s meaningless to these parents… it is near impossible for the
rakyat in Bau to find meaning and truthfulness in the BN government’s
slogan ‘People First, Performance now’ and ‘Janji Ditetapi’,” said Mas
Gading PKR division member Boniface Willy Tumek.
Willy said it was imperative that Muhyiddin find the money to do the needful for schools in Sarawak, especially SMK Bau.
“We are deeply disappointed with the attitude of the Minister of
Education Muhyiddin Yassin who is also the Deputy Prime Minister towards
rural schools in Sarawak and in particular, their insensitive attitude
towards SMK Bau.
“We call upon Muhyiddin to immediately allocate sufficient funds to
enable SMK Bau and all other schools in Sarawak to carry out urgent and
necessary repair and maintenance works.”
Sarawak still ‘backward’
According to Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian, SMK Bau’s condition was was only a ‘tip of the iceberg’.
“Now we are talking about secondary schools. Last time we raised the
conditions of primary schools in Sarawak. Despite getting to the 50th
year in Malaysia, Sarawak has not gone very much up the ladder of
development.
“Education is crucial for the development of the state. It is also
crucial for the development of a community,” he said adding that the
state government should assist the federal government in education.
Rural schools, he said, if given the opportunity and better equipment
and facilities, could excel in their performances or do even better
than urban schools as shown by schools in Ba’Kelalan and Lubai Tengah in
Limbang.
These schools had received awards and grants from the Commonwealth for their excellent performances, he said.
Bian was refering to SK Ba Kelalan in Long Langai in the Ba Kelalan
highlands and SK Ulu Labai in Limbang which awarded the 2009
Commonwealth Education Good Practice Awards beating 45 other schools
from across the Commonwealth.
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