KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 — The Ministry of Education (MoE) plans to update and review existing guidelines on the building of new schools to speed up their construction, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.
Deputy Education Minister Lim Hui Ying said the review was necessary as based on the existing guidelines, the construction of a school can take between five and 10 years.
“We want to shorten the (construction) time,” she said in response to a supplementary question from Rodziah Ismail (PH-Ampang) on whether the ministry had plans to review and update the guidelines for the construction of new schools.
She said the MoE obtains input and suggestions for school construction through an application by the State Education Department (JPN), following which an analysis would be carried out based on the Planning Guidelines for Urban and Rural Community Facilities, Peninsular Malaysia by the Department of Urban and Rural Planning (PLANMalaysia), Ministry of Local Government Development (KPKT).
“Apart from the availability of the site or land, other things that are taken into account are the number and capacity of existing schools nearby, the population density in the surrounding area, the coverage of the catchment area (catchment area) as well as the development planning of the area based on discussions with the local government authorities,” she said. — Bernama
