by Samuel Aubrey
April 30, 2010, Friday
April 30, 2010, Friday
Solving teacher shortage in state’s rural schools hinges on ongoing roundtable with KL
KOTA SAMARAHAN: Housing and Urban Development Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg said the state government is still negotiating with its federal counterparts to take in more Sarawakians to be trained as teachers.
He said if the negotiation was successful it could be the answer to getting teachers to willingly serve in the state’s rural schools, most of which did not have enough teachers because of the reluctance of those posted from Semenanjung Malaysia to serve for long in these schools.
He said Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department Datin Fatimah Abdullah had been tasked to negotiate with the Education Ministry for more Sarawakians to be enrolled in teachers’ education institutes or IPG campuses in the state.
Abang Johari said he was optimistic that a favourable decision could be reached soon given that the ministry’s rector-in-charge of IPGs is Sarawak-born Datuk Dr Haili Dolhan.
He said having more Sarawakians to be trained as teachers would mean that the state’s rural school would not have to continually face the problem of Semenanjung teachers asking to be posted out every so often because they could not cope with the local culture and condition.