On course to 90pc local teachers
Published on: Thursday, June 22, 2017
Kota Kinabalu: The State Education Department is on track to achieve the 90:10 ratio in local to peninsula teachers in Sabah by 2018.Its Director Datuk Maimunah Suhaibul said the target is highly achievable for primary schools while it would take a slight extended time for secondary schools."At the moment we have about 84 per cent Sabahan teachers in the primary schools in the State and about 76 per cent for secondary schools.
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"We can achieve the 90:10 target in the near future but we might need a longer time for secondary schools."Nevertheless, we have been aggressive in our efforts to fill in any vacancy with local teachers," she said, after the briefing session for new teachers' placement at the department's building, here, Wednesday.Towards this end, Maimunah hoped the new local teachers would stay longer at their respective postings, especially when there is a special transfer for teachers from the peninsula to return to their hometowns after being attached here."And these vacancies are filled by our local teachers." In the latest placement, the Department took an approach of not placing the new teachers in areas which recorded a surplus of teachers unless a critical need exists for certain options in the area.
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"The department is sincere and dedicated to reduce the status gap of teachers between the districts in the State so that the students either in urban or rural areas will experience a balanced education opportunity in line with the Malaysian Education Development Plan," she said.Some of the new teachers will be posted in rural areas and the Eastern Sabah Security Zone (Esszone) where extra measures such as curfews are taken by security forces due to the close proximity of conflict areas in the southern Philippines.
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Three suspected militants believed to have been on their way to Marawi city in the southern Philippines, where government forces are fighting the Islamic State-aligned Maute group, were arrested last week in Sandakan, which is located within the Esszone."There have been no incidents involving teachers and no special security issues they're facing."We will follow the guidelines given by the security forces and we're making sure our teachers abide by these for their own safety."During the briefing session, 101 new Sabahan teachers received their placement letters to be attached to schools all over the State."Of the figure, 97 of them are primary school teachers while the rest will be teaching in secondary schools."Twenty one of them are Bahasa Melayu-optioned, 26 with Visual Arts Education option, 18 with Music Education option, 12 with Design and Technology option, 10 with Rehabilitation Education, six with Mathematics option and two each for Guidance and Counselling option and Science option," she said.Maimunah also reminded newly-placed teachers to uphold the work ethics of the teaching profession and abide by the rules stipulated under the Education Act and General Orders."I hope teachers will have a positive attitude so that they will not be influenced by negative 'culture' like truancy or being late to school… we do not want such behaviour to be adopted by new teachers."If they do follow the negative footsteps of some of their seniors, then I think their souls are not meant for the teaching profession."There are only a handful of such cases and action has been and will be taken on them."Maimunah also reminded the new teachers to avoid using 'labels' on their students.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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