Sarawak resolving teacher shortages in state, says Sagah

SERIAN (July 20): Sarawak is currently resolving the issue of shortage of teachers throughout the state, said Dato Sri Roland Sagah Wee Inn.

In view of this, the Education, Innovation and Talent Development Minister said the shortage does not only involve English language teachers but also teachers for many other subjects.

“There are only over 1,000 open positions in primary schools across the whole state, and only over 200 in secondary schools.

“We hope we can resolve this shortage issue as soon as possible,” he said when met by reporters after officiating at an earth-breaking ceremony for the new Dayak Bidayuh National Association (DBNA) Serian branch Community Centre here today.

On the shortage of English teachers, Sagah asserted that the Education Commission of Malaysia is currently conducting interviews for teachers and that the issue had been forwarded to his federal counterpart as well as the Commission all these while.

“I hope the state will be able to meet the required amount. However, as we all know, recruiting new teachers requires more than just picking someone out of the crowd; candidates must be trained teachers.

“For the English subject, most of the time we have been conducting upgrading courses, such as the Sarawak English Language Education Symposium programme for teachers, together with the teachers’ colleges,” he said.