Sagah: MoE backs decentralisation of administrative matters in education

KUCHING (Nov 27): The federal Ministry of Education (MoE) has seemingly favoured the decentralisation of education authority on administrative matters to the state Education Department, said Dato Sri Roland Sagah Wee Inn.

The Education, Innovation and Talent Development Minister said his ministry has engaged with federal counterparts on the devolution and decentralisation of powers for education as part of Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) negotiations.

“In the course of our deliberation, MoE has indicated favourably on the decentralisation of authority, particularly for those administrative in nature, from MoE to the state Education Department,” he said in his winding up speech at the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) today.

However, Sagah said his ministry has yet to receive an official response for the arrangements on how the decentralisation of authority is to be realised.

According to him, once decentralisation has taken place, approval for state-funded projects, such as rural transformation projects, will no longer be decided in Putrajaya.

“We will be having another meeting early next year together with our Deputy Prime Minister Dato Sri Fadillah Yusof, who is handling the MA63 matters,” Sagah said.

He added the state government has made a representation on the matter at the technical committee of the MA63 Implementation Action Council.

“The technical committee in principle agreed on the representation made by my ministry and resolved that both MoE and my ministry further deliberate to finalise the matters to be escalated for decision by the main committee chaired by the prime minister,” he said.

Sagah cited bureaucratic red tape as one of the main challenges in carrying out devolution and decentralisation of powers on matters related to education.