KUCHING: Establishing a Faculty of Education at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) may solve the issue of teacher shortage over the next four to 10 years.
Spaoh Islamic Charitable Trust Board (LAKIS) chairman Dr Abang Ismail Abang Julhi said, there is now an education programme offered at Unimas, namely, the Bachelor of Education (Islamic Education) with Honours which is under the Faculty of Cognitive Science of Human Development.
“We are very grateful. However, if a Faculty of Education is established, it can be expanded to more fields such as Malay, History, Design, Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL), Sports Science and so on,” he said.
“I am confident that Unimas together with the Malaysian Institute of Teacher Education (IPG) in Sarawak can help solve the problem of teacher shortage.
He said Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Samarahan Campus, which offers the TESL programme has helped the Ministry of Education (KPM) solve the issue of TESL teacher shortage in Sarawak in particular.
“In the same way, Tun Abdul Razak University (UniRazak) also helps produce a group of future educators who are able to meet this challenge.
“If you look back, I expressed these ideas and views around 1998 when I started to pursue my studies at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).
“With the hope that when I graduate – the Faculty of Education at Unimas will come to being. However, it has not until today,” he added.
