‘State government should take over repairs of dilapidated schools’
Dennis Ngau
He proposed that the state government took over the responsibility to address problems without further delay with the federal government allocating the necessary funds.
Dennis blamed officers of the Ministry of Education in Putrajaya for failing to accord priority to these schools, including those in his constituency.
“There are schools needing urgent repairs which I have brought to the attention of the education office in Marudi that forwarded it (the request) to the higher authorities but no action has been taken so far.
“The officers in Marudi or the state for that matter do not have the authority nor the funds to do the repairs,” he said.
He said this when asked for comments on the report that 124 schools in Sarawak were in deplorable condition and in need of immediate repairs as contained in the 2014 Auditor-General’s Report.
Dennis is confident that Sarawak has the capability to undertake urgent repairs when circumstances dictated, and the call for devolution of power by the chief minister was spot on in mitigating the problem.
“Locals understand the gravity of the problem as they are on the ground while those in Putrajaya fail to comprehend and take their time instead of reacting without delay,” he said.
Dennis, however, is happy that many of the schools he recommended for repairs in 2013 are finally seeing the light of the day with work being carried out this year.
According to the Auditor-General’s Report, visits to 145 schools in the state revealed that 85.5 per cent of them were in ‘bad shape’, with major damages to the structure which pose a threat to the safety of the students.
The report stated that damaged infrastructure need to be repaired immediately to ensure a safe and conducive place for students.
According to the state Education Department’s record as of Dec 31, 2014, 388 schools from 1,452 schools in the state had been classified as in bad condition, 327 with minor damages and 464 with medium damages.
From 2012 to Dec 31, 2014, the department allocated RM202.52 million for maintenance and repair of schools.
Lack of funds was cited by the report as the main cause, and the department has estimated that a RM632.06 million- allocation is needed for maintenance and repair of infrastructure in schools from 2015 to 2018.
Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2015/11/26/state-government-should-take-over-repairs-of-dilapidated-schools/#ixzz3sfOoMAof
My Comments:
Putrajaya always have money to lavish on many 'white elephant projects', why do they no have the funds to upgrade the schools? Check if there have been any funds allocation for this purpose.
Number of dilapidated schools are much more than stated in AG's report ---Fatimah Abdullah, Welfare, Women and Government Development Minister
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