THE Sabah Government is confident the State autonomy over education and health matters, as discussed by the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) Technical Committee, will materialise under the Unity Government of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor welcomed the announcement by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Haji Fadillah Yusof on the matter, saying greater autonomy would ensure the State’s education system would continue to progress.
It would make it easier for the State Government to implement and speed up educational projects, besides appointments of teaching staff.
“This effort to decentralise the power of education also indirectly proves the Federal Government’s trust in the machinery of the State Government, especially in increasing the capacity of the education system in the State,” said the Chief Minister.
Hajiji was speaking at the 34th Sabah State Excellence Scholarship Awards (ABCNS) at the Tun Ahmad Raffae Auditorium, Menara Tun Mustapha, Kota Kinabalu, on Aug 1.
“We believe in autonomy. The State Government through the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry will have flexibility for various issues related to education.
“Officials at the State level have better knowledge about the problems of the people in their own area. With that, control and supervision would be better implemented.
This indirectly enables the problems of the people to be managed more efficiently and quickly,” he said.
He said the State Government spent RM35 million in 2022 on several initiatives to strengthen Sabah’s human capital for a prosperous future.
These include Budi, Bistari, Bakti, Bagus, PIBG, Aksa, Bisbah and Baik programmes. They benefited 41,590 students, 3,044 babies in addition to 1,500 schools and 630 parent-teacher associations (PTAs).
Meanwhile, RM43 million was provided by the State Government in the 2023 budget for that same purpose.
Hajiji said the initiative is in the form of cash assistance for higher education registrations, the National Education Savings Scheme, exam assistance, excellence awards, donations of school equipment, laptops and assistance to PTAs.
The initiative is clearly a commitment to emphasising increasing inclusive education opportunities for all citizens regardless of their background. All the initiatives proved to give many benefits, especially in reducing the financial burden of the underprivileged.
This year, two new initiatives would be implemented namely the Sabah Education Special Assistance Programme (Bantu) and Small School Maintenance Assistance (Balkis).
