KUCHING: The Ministry of Education (MoE) will try to fill at least 50 per cent or 1,500, of the estimated 3,000 shortage of teachers in Sarawak before the new school session commences in March this year.
Its minister Fadhlina Sidek said this is an effort to overcome the problem of teacher shortages in the state.
“MoE will try to solve the problem as quickly as possible because Sarawak is not the only state facing such an issue, but other states in Malaysia face a similar situation.
“Therefore, the ministry will try to fill 50 per cent of the shortage of teachers first before the new school session starts later,” she said in a press conference after her official work visit to Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Batu Kawa here today (Jan 28).
When asked if the 90:10 ratio policy of having Sarawakian teachers teach in the state has caused Sarawak to face the issue of teacher shortages, Fadhlina said that should not be the case.
“The policy is being used. However, there is a cycle for the placement of teachers whereby some teachers apply to return to their home state and we need to bring in new teachers as replacements,” she said.
She added that the placement of teachers and infrastructure matters in schools come under the responsibility and commitment of the MoE, but her ministry will continue to work closely with the Ministry of Education, Innovation and Talent Development (MEITD) and the Sarawak Education Department to ensure education issues in the state can be resolved.
It is estimated that Sarawak is facing a teacher shortage that has reached up to 3,000 teachers thus far.
In November last year, MEITD minister Datuk Roland Sagah Wee Inn said that Sarawak is not facing any issues of a critical shortage of teachers and has achieved a 90:10 ratio of Sarawakian to non-Sarawakian teachers teaching in the state.
However, Sagah said there are still issues with the placement of teachers due to their subject specialisation and family-related matters.
Also present were Education director-general Datuk Kharuddin Ghazali and Sarawak Education director Datuk Dr Azhar Ahmad.
