Sarawak receives 15,000 applications for special teacher recruitment

KOTA SAMARAHAN: Sarawak’s special teacher recruitment drive has received an overwhelming response, with about 15,000 applications submitted so far.

Education, Innovation and Talent Development (MEITD) Minister Datuk Seri Roland Sagah Wee Inn said the competition is stiff and selection criteria extend beyond the academic qualifications of the applicants as there are only 1,134 vacancies currently.

With focus being on placing candidates in areas with the highest number of teacher vacancies, he expressed hope that candidates would adapt well to the areas where they are posted.

“I believe the Education Service Commission (ESC) will also be interviewing them on the pedagogical attitudes, aptitudes and also the way they conduct themselves in the interview.

“What is advantageous for us is the increased pool of applicants, allowing us to make more selective placements.

“We aim to place candidates in their hometowns as much as possible, to avoid the transfer issues we currently face,” he said.

He said this during a press conference following the signing of a memorandum of understanding between MEITD, Affin Bank Group, and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) at DeTAR PUTRA Unimas today.

Sagah thanked the federal Education Ministry (MoE) and the ESC for supporting the state government’s efforts to address the acute teacher shortage across the state’s 30 education districts.

The special teacher recruitment programme in Sarawak was open for applications for three weeks, starting from Aug 1 to 23.

The recruitment drive is open to all graduates with a bachelor’s degree in education and those with non-education bachelor’s degrees.

Successful candidates will be offered a two-year contract and will be required to complete a teaching diploma course at their own expense at the Institute of Teacher Education Malaysia (IPGM) through the Kursus Dalam Cuti (KDC) programme.

Upon completion of the teaching diploma, candidates will be offered permanent teaching positions, subject to final screening by the ESC.

While all 30 educational districts in Sarawak currently have teacher vacancies, districts of Serian, Daro, Kapit, Subis, Saratok, and Betong experiencing the most severe shortages, each with over 100 vacancies.

The largest subject-specific shortages are in English, Mathematics, Moral Education, Preschool, Bahasa Melayu, and Remedial Education (Pemulihan), in addition to vacancies in 22 other subjects, including positions in Chinese National-Type Schools (SJKC).

Interested candidates must submit their applications online through MySPP at https://myspp.spp.gov.my/myspp/index.php.

Interviews are scheduled for the second week of September, with results expected to be announced in October or November. Placements are targeted for November and December.