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Kota Kinabalu: Sabah Education Director Datuk Raisin Saidin said the State’s education has made strides in the last three years with the potential to match the rankings of other Malaysian states.

“Sabah has shown consistent improvement in public examinations with the State’s Average Grade for SPM improving from 5.35 in 2021 to 5.09 in 2023,” he said in his mandate in conjunction with the Sabah Education Department's 2025 New Year Address at SJKC Chung Hwa Likas, here, Wednesday.

“Certificate qualification rates also increased from 89.76 per cent in 2021 to 94.01 per cent in 2023,” he said, adding that the Department aims to achieve an Average Grade of 4.94 for SPM 2024.

He also noted that boarding school students have shown considerable progress with their Average Grade improving from 4.85 in 2022 to 4.56 in 2023, targeting 4.20 for SPM 2024.

“Over 6,000 boarding school candidates representing 18 per cent of Sabah’s average grade benefited from specialised SPM preparation programmes focusing on Bahasa Malaysia, History, Mathematics and Science,” he said.

Additionally, infrastructure development remains a key priority, with Sabah managing 1,298 schools, one of the highest numbers in Malaysia. 

“Under the 12th Malaysia Plan, the Department secured approval for 214 projects valued between RM10 million and RM300 million,” he said, adding that looking ahead to the 13th Malaysia Plan, a total of 98 projects have passed initial screening by the Ministry of Education and await Economic Ministry’s approval in May 2025. 

On disciplinary cases, Raisin said the Department recorded a 58 per cent increase in 2024 which he attributed to heightened awareness among department heads following eight Jelajah Integriti series. 

He said a total of 283 cases were submitted to various disciplinary boards at State and Federal levels and to assist in addressing this, several series of workshops will be conducted at District Education Office and school levels. 

Among offences that will be focused on in these workshops are cases of absence from duty, bankruptcy, sexual harassment and crimes as well as drug-related offences. 

He also said a study involving 147 newly appointed principals and headmasters between April 2023 and March 2024 showed positive outcomes.

While headmasters excelled in programme planning (95.83 per cent) and professional development (93.33 per cent), principals achieved perfect scores across all evaluation criteria. 

Additionally, a total of 621 new teachers appointed in early 2023 showed high effectiveness with mentor support. 

He said the Department also prioritises educator welfare, with a total of 1,993 individuals receiving counselling services in 2024.

“Through the 1W1K (1 Warga 1 Kaunseling) programme, 209 out of 368 educators identified with severe psychological distress received district-level support. 

“The psychological profiling initiative has achieved a 61 per cent completion rate, covering 31,534 out of 51,309 education staff,” he said. 

Raisin also acknowledged his predecessors’ contributions and thanked the Sabah Government for allocating RM474.55 million for education development in 2024. 

He said the funding supports various initiatives, including strengthening science, technology and innovation efforts, to ensure educational accessibility and excellence throughout Sabah. 

"Sabah continues to face certain educational challenges but these should not be seen as barriers to progress. 

"Education is the key to life and must be the main priority not only for the State Education Department but also for educators, parents and the community.

"It is not just the responsibility of schools but a collective effort to end poverty," he said, quoting the proverb "It takes a village to raise a child."

“We must remain committed to enhancing educational quality through strengthened support systems at district and school levels while addressing challenges such as infrastructure maintenance and land status issues for school development projects,” he said. 

Present were his predecessors, Datuk Seri Dr Hasbullah Taha, Datuk Kamal DE Quadra, Datuk Dr Muhiddin Yusin, Datuk Misterine Radin and Datuk Tah Nia Jaman.