State govt to build five int’l schools with a view to groom smart rural students
KUCHING: Five international residential schools will be built by the state government — two in Kuching, one each in Sibu, Miri and Bintulu.
On this, Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said the state government was not competing with the private sector in the field of education.
“We just want to provide high quality schools for smart kids from the rural areas to get groomed and have opportunities to follow international curriculum,” he said.
Abang Johari went on to say that it was not that he didn’t trust the Malaysian education syllabus, but the issue when it came to international versus local education was the quality.
“He said to imbue children with global mindset, they need to be exposed to the international school environment,” he said.
Thus, in connection with this, the state government welcomes the private sector to establish international schools in Sarawak.
This is especially relevant for urban centres such as Bintulu, said Abang Johari who reckoned that the huge investments from abroad and the increasing number of expatriates in the area surely warranted the building of another international school to cater to the needs of the children.
“Because of our investment policies, the state has many expatriates whose children need international schools,” he said in his speech during an agreement signing ceremony between Saradise Sdn Bhd and Borneo International School (BIS) at Saradise Gallery, Jalan Song yesterday.
He figured that these expatriates want their children to be educated and their definite choice is to put them in international schools.
Hence, he suggested that Saradise should look into the possibility of working with its partners to establish another international school.
“Only the elite can afford to send their children to private international schools because of the high fees. But to ensure that our policy is fair, the state government will build its own international schools,” he said.
Aside from international schools and good education, the chief minister also noted that some private companies want to set up private hospitals in Kuching.
“Two private hospitals are expanding their facilities. One of them is Borneo Medical Centre (BMC) while the other one I can’t disclose yet. Two others are new ones of international standards,” he said.
With that, he said medical tourism in the state would grow and more people would travel to Kuching for medical treatment.
“I hope with this basic ecosystem, we can boost our economy. It is anticipated that with the investments that the state government has been making, we should achieve six per cent annual growth up to the year 2030,” he said.
Earlier, Abang Johari witnessed the signing of agreement between Saradise and BIS for the construction of BIS new campus at Saradise Kuching. Saradise was represented by its group chief executive officer Datuk Chris Chung, while BIS was represented its chairman Tan Seng Kee.
The new campus will have 15,000 square metres of build-up space with a range of facilities that can accommodate up to 1,200 students. The current BIS students will move to the new campus in early 2023.
Also present at the signing ceremony was Education, Science and Technological Research Minister Datuk Sri Michael Manyin.
