KUCHING: Sarawak Teachers’ Union (STU) is urging all unemployed graduates residing in Sarawak to apply to become teachers.
STU President Adam Prakash Abdullah said the state is currently facing a shortage of 3,000 teachers.
He applauded a recent announcement by Senior Minister of Education Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin on the recruitment of 19,702 DG41 teachers to fill vacancies nationwide.
“We hope that with this announcement, the teaching vacancies will be rectified so that schools will be able to operate on a full teaching capacity. This is an opportunity that must not be missed for the graduates to serve in the state,” he said yesterday (June 20).
Adam also requested the ministry to look into the list of unemployed graduates in Sarawak who have completed their education degree from local universities and are still waiting for placement in schools.
“These graduates are ready to work as they have the necessary qualification. We hope that the Education Service Commission (SPP) and Ministry of Education (MOE) can come up with very clear instructions and guidelines for the applicants as we want to minimise failures at the application level so that the 19,702 vacancies can be filled as soon as possible,” he said.
He also said STU is requesting for the State Education Department to assist teachers who have the requirements for transfer by placing them appropriately based on their applications in the next transfer exercise.
He noted that it will provide the teachers with opportunities to move to other schools or stations after several years in their current schools before the new posting exercise is carried out.
“We hope this one-off exercise will help ease the shortage of teachers in Sarawak. We also hope that MOE will be in consultation with the State Education Department to place the teachers based on appropriateness and school requirements.
“We want all schools to have a sufficient number of teachers based on the subjects required by the schools,” he said.
