COMMENT: Not since 1974, when the Education Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, drove his ideas through Cabinet, have Malaysians witnessed such a tangled mess concerning our children's education and future.
Malaysian parents, with children of school-going age, have difficult choices to make. Public versus private schools. Malaysian or international schools. Vernacular or sekolah kebangsaan. Religious schools, boarding schools, private tuition or home schooling.
Recently, Sarawak Chief Minister Adenan Satem made a leap of faith to introduce English as an official language in Sarawak, because he said, "I am just being realistic, as English is a language used in commerce, science and technology among the international community. If you don't speak English, you will be left behind."
Adenan is echoing the recent call by the Sultan of Johor and various NGOs, for English to be re-introduced as the medium of instruction in schools. Adenan is aware that the effects of those changes, will not be seen for several years.
Perhaps, the other debilitating problem Adenan must deal with, is the state of repair, of many of the schools in Sarawak.
The Auditor-General's Report 2014, stated that around 88% of schools that were inspected, in Sarawak, were not fit for purpose and unsafe. Some of the school buildings were rotting or infested with termites. In others, the grounds were soaked with slurry from septic tanks.
The school inspection revealed that, despite the school buildings being in an unsafe condition, some blocks were still being used for teaching.
Other problem schools had old wiring which needed urgent upgrading or replacement, because this was a potential fire-risk, and students could receive electric shocks from exposed wires.
Fires had occurred in some schools, although the causes of these fires had not been ascertained.
In one school, damage caused by inclement weather in 2014, had destroyed the roof and walls, and severed the wiring. The audit revealed that no repair had been carried out.
Will Putrajaya listen to Adenan's demands to improve the infrastructure of Sarawak schools?
In May 2010, the then Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin held a dialogue with 1,000 teachers in Sibu, and listened to their complaints about poor conditions in rural and urban schools.
A shocked Muhyiddin expressed horror that the conditions were "worse than those in Felda schemes" and heard from one teacher, that in her school, a hole in the ground was used as a "common toilet."
He said, "I feel sad. There is a need to come up with a more comprehensive plan to tackle these problems in Sarawak. We will need billions of ringgit to solve these problems. Even to build one school in rural Sarawak, we need to spend at least RM50 mil.”
Muhyiddin directed the state Education Department to produce a report on the problems affecting teachers and schools, in Sarawak, so he could resolve them.
So, was a report compiled? Were the repairs, conducted, and the teachers' issues, resolved?
Four years later, in February 2014, Muhyiddin promised an additional budget of RM1 billion for repair work, in East Malaysian schools.
In November 2015, the Sarawak Welfare, Women and Family Development Minister, Fatima Abdullah, claimed that only RM95 million, of the RM422 million Sarawak needed, had been approved.
It appears that Putrajaya is neither serious nor sincere, about providing a conducive learning environment for Sarawak's schoolchildren.
Will Adenan demand the additional funds for Sarawak schools? Or will Putrajaya withthold funding, and use it as a bargaining chip against Adenan, who wants to make English an official language.-The Ant Daily
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