State Education and Innovation Minister Yussof Yacob said the three classes of dilapidation were Class 1 for schools built more than 30 years ago, Class 2 (more than 40 years) and Class 3 for schools built with wooden structures more than 50 years ago.
“I have met the chief minister and the federal education minister on this issue for immediate attention for the interest of our children and teachers,” he told reporters here.
He said his ministry’s officials found out there were “sharing schools” concept being practised in certain areas in the state due to the insufficient number of classrooms, with primary school classes being shared with secondary school students.
“There is sharing among the primary and secondary school students, not only in rural schools but also in Tawau, we must resolve this issue,” Yussof said.
He said there were also hostels in some schools that were damaged and their facilities in poor condition.
“The school hostels are in poor condition, with beds needing replacement, what we can say is, all-in-all there are inadequacies,” he said.
Yussof said teachers’ houses were also in dilapidated condition, with some completely without power and water supply.
“This pressing issue which had long been neglected, appears to lack initiatives to address it,” he said.
Yussof said if the issues were left unattended, they would only lead to negative impact on the education system in the state.
“We must create a better and healthy eco-system in the schools with better facilities in all aspects including internet penetration and accessibility,” he said.
He said a total of 37 dilapidated schools of the total 1,296 have been repaired under the supervision of the Public Works Department (JKR), while 83 schools were still undergoing repair works.
Yussof said the education ministry had taken the approach of resolving the problem of dilapidated schools using the ready-made concept structure or Industrial-Based System (IBS).
Education minister Maszlee Malik on Sept 6 had said his ministry was committed to maintaining and repairing dilapidated schools within five years.