SANDAKAN: Sabah Education, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk James Ratib has defended his recent statement that there are no longer any “dilapidated schools” in Sabah following criticism and confusion on social media.
Clarifying his remarks, James said the issue in Sabah today involved dilapidated buildings within schools, and not entire schools being unsafe or unusable.
He said many schools in the state consisted of a mix of old and newer structures, with only certain ageing blocks requiring replacement.
“A school may have buildings constructed in the 1970s or 1980s using wood, while other blocks built in recent years are still in good condition.
“So when we say ‘dilapidated school’, people think the whole school is damaged. Actually, it is only certain buildings,” he told reporters after officiating the district-level Kaamatan celebration here on Saturday (May 9).
James said the government’s focus was on replacing old wooden blocks with safer concrete structures.
“We are not replacing the entire school. We are only replacing the dilapidated buildings,” he said.
Earlier, James came under fire online after stating during the recent Sabah state assembly sitting that there were no “dilapidated schools” in Sabah, but only dilapidated buildings.
During his winding-up speech, he said RM11.55mil had been allocated this year for scale-six dilapidated building projects involving 13 schools currently under construction.
He also said the Sabah Education Department had received RM94.7mil as of April 28, while scale-seven projects for 2026 involving 20 schools were valued at RM1.47bil.
James said Sabah’s geographical conditions, especially in rural and island areas, continued to pose challenges in terms of logistics, cost and implementation timelines for upgrading works.
