By 2023, Sarawak’s first State-owned international secondary school will be operational.
Located at 12th Mile, Kuching-Serian Road, the ground-breaking ceremony was launched on 22 September 2021.
It is said to be the first of five state-owned international secondary schools, to be established in Sarawak.
It was reported that the other schools will be located at;
- Sibu
- Miri
- Bintulu
- an unannounced second site in Kuching
Meanwhile, it was reported that the construction of the residential international secondary school in Sibu is expected to be completed in 2024.
How is possible to have our own school?
The establishment of the Yayasan Sarawak international schools is an initiative by the Sarawak government to provide quality education to Sarawakians due to the constant changes in the federal government’s education policy.
According to YB Datuk Amar Michael Manyin Jawong, the former of the then Minister of Education, Science and Technological Research, it is possible to establish these international school as they do not fall under the Education Act 1996.
This is because such act is only applied to government secondary schools.
Section 15 of the act (Act 550) does not include education in international schools.
As privately owned schools, all Yayasan Sarawak International Schools will be managed and owned by YS International Education Sdn Bhd, which is a subsidiary of Yayasan Sarawak.
Datuk Amar Manyin added that the State government was able to proceed with the implementation of the schools after it had obtained the back-up letter from the Ministry of Education (MOE) on 17 July 2020.
Each school will need RM40 million to RM45 million to implement with extra funding also required to run the school.
Who can enter these schools?
Anyone!
While the school is open for enrollment to any Sarawakian students regardless of their background, it was established for children from low-income group so that they can be groomed and benefit from the high standard study environment and education system.
It is reported that these schools will identify high potential students and provide them with the opportunity to have access to international standard education for free.
About 80 percent of the students will be provided with boarding facilities.
There will also be a 20 per cent quota for students from well-to-do families.
The new school in 12th Mile, Kuching would be able to cater to 500 students from Year 7 to Year 11 or Form 1 to Form 5.
What are the syllabuses?
The Kuching Yayasan Sarawak International Secondary School will offer the International General Certificate of Secondary Education offered by the Cambridge Assessment International Education Board.
The schools will be overseen and monitored by the Ministry of Education, Innovation and Talent Development, Sarawak.
The five international schools of Yayasan Sarawak would be using English as the medium.
Three of the classes will be for Science, Technology, English and Mathematics stream and one class will be for Arts stream.
It is also noted that students in this school will need to prepare for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examinations as private candidates.
In addition, Bahasa Malaysia subject will be offered in these schools.
This is to meet the demand of the Malaysian public universities’ requirement if the students of these schools choose to go for local public universities.
Aside from that, Mandarin will be an elective subject for the students.
How about the fee?
Students from the B40 group will receive full subsidy in the school while those from the M40 group will receive partial subsidy.
Students from well-to-do families will have to pay the fee in full.
