‘Address shortage in Sarawak’

Kullin

TEACHER shortage in Sarawak is a major problem and a reason why the state is behind in education compared to other states in Malaysia, said Sarawak Teachers Union president Kullin Djayang.

Currently, there is a shortage of over 3,000 teachers, where about 1,925 vacancies are in primary schools and the rest in secondary schools throughout the state, he added.

He also highlighted that many important subjects do not have sufficient teachers, especially in rural and outskirt primary schools.

Among the subjects with a critical shortage of teachers are Moral Education, Islamic Education, Visual Arts Education, Physical Education, Malay Language, Design and Technology, and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects.

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Affecting the academic performance of students, the lack of teachers also causes an increase in teacher workload, he added.

“Many teachers, especially in large schools, work overtime to cover for the shortage of teachers.

“They teach a wide range of subjects and some teachers are forced to teach subjects that are not their majors,” he said.

Adding to their burden is online filing, which is difficult in rural and large schools, as Internet access is very poor.

According to Kullin, since the recruitment of 18,702 teachers in a one-off manner by the previous education minister, only 2,667 teachers had been supplied to the state, including 215 who declined the postings due to personal reasons.

“The shortage of teachers is becoming increasingly critical as the trend of choosing to retire early among teachers is increasing. Up till March, a total of 668 teachers in Sarawak have taken compulsory retirement,” he offered.

Chew

Commenting on the lack of teachers in East Malaysia, Teach For Malaysia (TFM) head of coaching Chew Mei Yee said more teachers should be exposed to the need in Sabah and Sarawak.

The current problem, she noted, is that not many teachers are exposed to the work lifestyle in Sabah and Sarawak and their rural areas, which can cause a major culture shock for them.

“This increases the possibility of them not wanting to stay for the long term, creating a high turnover rate and also a higher shortage of teachers in East Malaysia,” she added.

Kullin urged the ministry to take drastic measures to overcome the problem of teacher shortage.

He emphasised that Sarawak natives should be prioritised to teach in Sarawak, in order to reduce the number of teachers returning to their home states.

On May 23, Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek told Parliament that up till April 30, the total number of teaching positions in Sarawak schools was 42,987, out of which 39,926 had been filled.

Of the teachers who filled the positions, she said as many as 89.3% were born in Sarawak compared to 10.7% who are from Peninsular Malaysia.

She said the ministry had strived to ensure Sarawak-born teachers were given priority for placement in their states of birth based on vacancies and option requirements in line with the Empowerment Policy 90:10, which was introduced in 2015.

Fadhlina was responding to Igan MP Ahmad Johnie Zawawi, who asked the reasons for teacher shortage in Sarawak.

In her response, she also said several strategic methods and approaches had been agreed upon and would be implemented, including the expansion of subject clusters to allow more potential candidates to be appointed teachers.

She added that the recruitment of teachers is also extended to graduates with high potential from private universities and foreign universities for critical subjects and those which are difficult to get candidates from public universities, such as English Language, Malay Language, Design and Technology, and Islamic Education.

“If the various strategic methods implemented still fail to fill the vacancy, then the appointment of teachers on a Contract of Service basis (CoS) among graduates who do not have a specialisation in education will also be implemented.

“These CoS appointed teachers will be prepared with appropriate knowledge, skills and attitudes through the Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PDPP) for one year before being appointed permanently by the Education Service Commission,” she said.