KOTA KINABALU: Sabah could be looking at the setting up of “wealth-based” higher learning institutions such as oil and gas industry training to boost economic growth for the state.
Sabah Assistant Special Tasks and Coordination Minister Datuk Fairuz Renddan said updates on this plan will be made public once the details have been finalised.
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This could help produce trained and skilled professionals in these fields, he added in response to questions on problems faced by the education system in Sabah at the state assembly sitting here on Tuesday (Nov 29).
During the question-and-answer session, Fairuz said the state government was also identifying ways to encourage more people to take up teaching courses in subjects such as Islamic studies, English and Mathematics as not many were interested.
He said this lack of interest, as well as retirement, were among the reasons why some schools in the state lacked teachers.
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“For the record, the state Education Department received over 4,000 new teachers from 2020 to 2022,” he added.
He also said the government would consider the suggestion by Simdumin assemblyman Datuk Yusof Yacob to set up a teaching university like Perak's Sultan Idris Education University (UPSI) here so that Sabahans would not have to relocate for their studies.
