SARAWAK has yet to receive any official response from the federal government to its request for devolution of power in critical areas of education despite the federal Ministry of Education’s (MoE’s) positive indication on the state’s request, especially those of administrative nature.
Deputy Minister for Education, Innovation and Talent Development Datuk Dr Annuar Rapaee recalled that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had assured during his address at the Malaysia Day celebration in Kuching on the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) that a “few remaining matters are not up for discussion or assessment but rather for immediate implementation”.
“So, there is nothing more to negotiate but just the need to implement what has been agreed. But, we are of the view that the negotiation will not be concluded expeditiously due to bureaucracy at the federal level,” Dr Annuar said.
However, he assured that his ministry will “vigorously pursue” the matter.
He was responding to Kota Sentosa assemblyman Wilfred Yap who wanted to know about the timeline on when Sarawak will have education autonomy during Q&A session in the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) today.
Apart from that, he said, his ministry will be actively involved in the process to resolve the shortage of teachers in Sarawak.
“Based on a joint meeting held in Kuching recently between my ministry and MoE and SPP (Education Service Commission), both MoE and SPP are committed to resolving the issue by the second half of 2024,” he said.
In addition to the normal recruitment of teachers from graduates of Institutes of Teacher Education (IPG) and education graduates from local universities, MoE and SPP will offer graduates with relevant qualifications and contract of service (CoS) to be deployed to the various schools.
“Teachers employed under CoS will be required to undertake Diploma in Education, a prerequisite to becoming qualified teachers. These approaches will broaden the pool of teachers, especially Sarawakians,” he said.
Dr Annuar said another progress worth mentioning is the approval of state-funded projects being delegated to the Sarawak director of education.
“We are now awaiting the delegation of powers to take effect,” he added.
