KUCHING: The free education initiative slated for 2026 announced by the Premier is a long-term goal for Sarawak and it requires proper planning to ensure its smooth implementation.
In stating this, Fazzrudin Abdul Rahman, chief political secretary to the Premier, pointed out that it requires taking into account the financial performance and capability of the Sarawak government not only at present but also in the future for the programme to be sustainable and benefit young Sarawakians who are studying at the state-owned educational institutions.
“An enabler to fulfilling this long-term vision is through the establishment of the Sarawak Sovereign Wealth Fund which will only be operational starting next year.
“This fund’s key objective is safeguarding the interests of Sarawak and its future generations.
“Planning is key as we do not want this initiative to be a one-off incentive or be implemented on a piecemeal basis but instead, be a long-standing policy whereby education is a key priority for the Sarawak government and through it, we are able to fulfill the democratisation of education in Sarawak. What is important is that the objective is already there,” he stressed.
He said this in response to a statement by Sarawak Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) deputy chairman Senator Abun Sui Anyit who called on the Sarawak government to roll out its free tertiary education initiative by next year.
Fazzrudin said efforts to make education more accessible to the people of Sarawak is already in place through the state government’s education institutions whereby scholarships and bursaries are offered through Yayasan Sarawak to students to reduce their family’s burden.
He said through Sarawak Foundation, the state government has also introduced a 30 percent discount for National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) repayment for borrowers.
“I believe the free education vision introduced by Sarawak should be emulated by the federal government as investment in education is key for Malaysia’s future. They should adopt Sarawak’s blueprint of free education planning.
“I am sure that if the Sarawak government resources were not channeled for infrastructure development projects that were under the purview of the federal government, for example the construction of bridges and schools, we could have allocated more resources towards education for the people of Sarawak.”
In line with this, he suggested Abun Sui to offer the federal government some advice on realising the vision of free education through his observations of the Sarawak model by devising the necessary mechanism for it to take shape.
“This way, all Malaysians would someday be able to benefit from tertiary education as it has become a prerequisite for them to be equipped to compete in the new economy,” he said.
