KUCHING: The Congress of Union of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) Sarawak has lauded the government’s recent initiative to fill the gaps in the teaching profession.
Cuepacs acting chairman Omar Bahrein Unin said this should not just be an exercise to address the unemployment issue in the country.
He pointed out that the right candidates should be selected and there were other criteria that must be looked into besides their qualifications.
“We must get the right people to be teachers. The would-be teachers must have the aptitude, passion and even the right voice. It is not enough to just recruit them based on qualifications,” he said in a statement on Sunday (June 20).
Omar hoped the authorities would cast the net far and wide as to get the best and dedicated teachers for the job.
He said there were many fresh teacher graduates who had not been interviewed to fill in the vacancies.
“Sarawak has 3,000 vacancies for teachers, and we hope that more local Sarawakian teachers will be successful in the intake. This will be in line with the state government’s policy to have 90 percent of the teachers in service who are from the state itself.
“We also hope that the Ministry of Education (MOE) will provide opportunity for and prioritise education graduates from the local higher education institutions (IPTAs) as they have the qualifications. There are approximately 600 of these graduates who are still unemployed.
“This will help in the posting of teachers throughout the state,” he added.
Omar said the dissemination of information regarding the vacancies should be widely publicised so that eligible Sarawakians would not be left out.
“The advertisement for this will be disseminated on July 7 while posting will be carried out in October. This special programme will not affect the teacher graduates from Teachers’ Educational Institutes (IPGs),” he added.
