KUCHING: Mission schools in the state want the federal government to allocate them more funds for upgrades.
Currently, although the federal government is providing financial assistance to them, it is, however, only for maintenance purposes.
Bishop of the Anglican Church of Sarawak and Brunei, Datuk Danald Jute requested the first meeting of the state mission school authorities with the Unit For Other Religions (Unifor) to discuss the needs of the schools here today.
Deputy Chief Minister, Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah, who is in charge of Unifor, chaired the meeting.
The meeting was in response to a call by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg for mission schools to have their committee to specifically look after their financial needs.
It would also help solve any problems they faced.
Present at the meeting was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kuching Simon Poh; Revd. Lau Kiong Ping who represented the Methodist Sarawak Chinese Annual Conference and Kaso Linang who represented the Methodist Sarawak Iban Annual Conference.
There are 127 mission schools in Sarawak, mainly in Kuching, Sibu and Miri Divisions.
They comprise 113 primary and 14 secondary schools.
Of the primary schools, 57 of them belong to the Roman Catholic Church while 45 belong to the Anglican Church and the Methodist Church has five.
For the secondary schools, seven of them belong to the Roman Catholic Church while the Anglican Church has five and Methodist Church has two.
Also, there are 92 kindergartens which belong to the three denominations.
“It is our hope the state government can relay our needs to its federal counterpart.
“While we are thankful for the federal funds, our schools need much more to elevate their standards.
“For this to be done effectively, we need facilities such as laboratories, special rooms and others,” said Danald.
“We want the state government to tell its federal counterpart this, failing which we hope the state government, will come in.
“All these facilities will be most helpful to enhance our teaching which can lead to better standards and results in our schools,” he added.
He also hoped that the state government would support them in promoting bible knowledge among Christian students.
“With the support, together we can restore in all mission schools the place of the bible and the scripture knowledge,”
The mission school authorities also requested for qualified Christian teachers to be allowed to head mission schools.
Another request was for the state government to expedite the issuance of land titles to mission schools, churches and their other properties, especially those in rural areas.
Danald said at the moment, several such schools “stood on the pledges given by kampung folks” about the sites.
He said problems would arise when the grandchildren or great-grandchildren of the donors started to claim back such land.
Archbishop Poh, in his briefing, said mission schools played a very important role in empowering the rural community through proper education.
“By providing the basic foundations, they are an integral part of the state development. In the rural areas, education might not be there if not for them,” he said.
Uggah, in his speech, said there was a committee in Unifor to raise such issues.
He said it would focus on the financing either for maintenance or the facilities.
“On the part of Unifor, I will be writing to the Prime Minister for some funding, too. The federal government has certain funds for non-Islamic groups,” he said.
Uggah also called on the committee to work out the estimated funds to help the schools.
“Let us work this out. The critical issue is we need to be fair in the dispensing. We must have a system to see that the less fortunate schools like those in rural areas with no other source of income are effectively helped.”
