Sabah education dept’s key objective this year to eradicate ‘level 7’ dilapidated schools, says director 

KOTA KINABALU, Feb 15 — The implementation of various actions to eradicate the issue of dilapidated schools in Sabah categorised as “level seven” is an important direction taken by the State Education Department (JPN) this year to provide comfort and a more conducive environment for students to gain knowledge.

Its director, Datuk Raisin Saidin said that to achieve this, there needs to be a caring mentality as well as a shift towards paying attention to schools which are in categories one to five.

“We have many dilapidated schools. The challenge (in this direction) is how can we maintain schools in the state within levels one to five so that they do not fall into levels six and seven.

“Do not be satisfied if your district has no school in level seven, that’s good. But don’t forget that in time even schools in level six can drop to level seven if not maintained and those in level one can also drop to level two for the same reason,” he said in the Sabah JPN 2024 New Year message at Menara Kinabalu here today.

Schools are rated on a scale of one to seven, with level six referring to buildings that are not safe as justified by the technical department of the District Education Office (PPD) or JPN.

Meanwhile, buildings rated 7 refer to those that are unsafe and are recommended to be demolished by the Public Works Department (JKR).

Raisin said that in 2020, a total of 39 dilapidated schools in Sabah were repaired and 12 more are undergoing repairs, while in 2021 only two schools were repaired and 25 still being repaired after work slowed down due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

He added that school administration and all parties involved must update the Education Management Information System (EMIS) to ensure the Ministry of Education is always aware of the schools’ building status so that it can take the necessary action.

In addition to dilapidated schools, Raisin said another crucial direction for Sabah JPN this year is to raise the state average grade (GPN) in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination from 5 to 4.

“Sabah’s SPM average grade has, for a long time, stood at 5, with the latest being 5.22 in 2022 but it is also the best so far, which reflects the (rising GPN) momentum but we cannot be satisfied with a GPN score of 5. The time has come to raise it... it would be good to reach 4.9,” he said. — Bernama