Although immediate measures are being undertaken to repair flood-prone schools in Sarawak, a long term solution is necessary to ensure undisrupted operations.
“There is a need for a long term solution, and that is to relocate the schools to higher ground, (as) some of these schools are low enrolment schools and dilapidated schools,” said Minister for Education, Science and Technological Research YB Dato Sri Michael Manyin ak Jawong.
He stressed the matter during his winding-up speech on the 7th day of the 1st Meeting of the 3rd Term of the 18th State Legislative Assembly on 17th July 2018.
“We indicated during our recent meeting with the new Minister of Education, YB Dr. Maszlee Malik that the relocation of these schools will be our priority,” he stated.
He described that there is an average of 80 schools in Sarawak that are flood-prone, and cited an example of the early months of 2018, where 78 schools were badly affected by flood.
“The damage caused by the flood was estimated at RM16.1 million, (which) included furniture, ICT equipment, non-ICT equipment, electrical wiring and buildings.
“The State Government contributed RM4 million to help cover the schools’ damages in addition to the allocation from the Federal Government,” he explained.
In relation, Dato Sri Michael Manyin outlined intervention efforts that the State Government has initiated to facilitate the State’s school development.
One of which was the approval of State Government funding for the relocation and rebuilding of two critically dilapidated schools, namely SK Ulu Segan in Bintulu Division and SK Maludam in Betong Division at RM40.1 million and RM48.2 million, respectively.
The other was under the Rural Transformation Initiatives (RTI) involving repairs and upgrading of 67 schools with a budget of RM21 million, where works on some of these schools were expected to be completed in 2018 and 2019.
Moreover, a total of RM4.48 million worth of grants had been approved by the State Government to the Boards of Management of four Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC) and 10 Mission schools.
