S’wak aims to resolve shortage of teachers next year

KUCHING: About half of the 3,076 vacancies for teachers in Sarawak will be filled by June next year, says state Deputy Education, Innovation and Talent Development Minister Datuk Dr Annuar Rapaee.

He said the state was short of 819 secondary school teachers and 2,257 for primary schools as of Sept 30 this year.

“During a meeting on Nov 7 between state and federal education counterparts, it was agreed that by February next year, the shortage of secondary school teachers should be resolved,” he told Wilfred Yap (GPS-Kota Sentosa) during question time in the Sarawak Legislative Assembly yesterday.

For primary schools, Dr Annuar said the shortage would be partially addressed with 752 teachers by June.

“This leaves us short of 1,505 primary school teachers. We have proposed to the Education Ministry to employ non-teaching graduates on contract,” he said, adding that he hopes this can be implemented to resolve the issue.

Dr Annuar also said the Education Ministry had agreed to delegate the approval of state-funded projects for schools in Sarawak to the state education director.

He said this would prevent delays in project implementation as approval would no longer need to come from Putrajaya.

However, he said the state was still waiting for the delegation of power to take effect.

Yap also asked what the financial implications were should Sarawak be given full autonomy in education.

Dr Annuar said it was possible for the state to be granted autonomy while the Federal Government continued to be responsible for the financial obligation, based on the provisions of Article 80(4) and (5) of the Federal Constitution.