Minister of Welfare, Women and Family Development Datuk Fatimah Abdullah said this forms part of the state government’s on-going effort to ensure Penan children have better access to education.
Officiating at the Malaysian Technical Cooperation Programme (MTCP) 2015–21st Century Leadership for Educational Leaders of Rural and Indigenous Schools from Asean Member States here yesterday, she said the state government was also behind the Comprehensive 9 (K9) School at SK Long Bedian.
There are 16,173 Penans living in 131 villages in the state. Only a few are still living nomadic lifestyles. Most of the Penans live around Baram (Miri Division) and Belaga (Kapit Division).
The pilot pre-school project by Petronas is for Penan children below seven years old and from five villages — Long Jenalong, Long Kerangan, Long Leng, Long Kawa and Long Selulong — along the Sabah and Sarawak Petronas gas pipeline in Tutoh/Apoh area.
Fatimah said the project formed part of Petronas’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) to close the education gap amongst Penans.
“The ministry received an application from Senator Datuk Lihan Jok, who informed us that children in Tutoh/Apoh do not have access to early childhood education like nursery and kindergarten. Following this application, we surveyed the said area and wrote a letter to Petronas to see if they could help us. After a series of discussions, we managed to get sponsorship from Petronas to implement this project.”
The project has a sponsorship of RM2.75 million from Petronas for five years. It will then be taken over by Community Development Department (Kemas).
Under the project, Petronas will sponsor the construction of a new school building, training of teachers, supervisors and teaching assistants. The three-week training will end on Nov 30.
“Construction will commence in December. In the mean time, the children will attend classes at the existing premises in their community,” she said.
Fatimah said the project was in line with the strategic early childhood education development plan to ensure all children have access to early childhood education.
Meanwhile, the programme, organised by Institut Aminuddin Baki (IAB) from Nov 15–27, was attended by representatives from Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia, and Malaysia.
Also present was IAB director Serina Sauni and IAB Sarawak branch director Dr Shari Abdul Rahman.-Borneo Post
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