Government To Focus On Three Crucial Aspects In Building Schools
The government will stress on three critical aspects in its plan to build new schools under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP), Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said. The new aspects would ensure better safety in all the schools being built together with the facilities which would be fully utilised, he said. "I am confident with the three approaches taken, we can provide the best and complete school facilities for our children," he said.
The first aspect was that the schools' sites must be suitable to avoid problems like landslide, he said. "Secondly, we must ensure that the areas have basic amenities including roads, water and electricity," he added. The third aspect involved planning to avoid building under-enrolled schools.
As such, the Education Ministry would put in efforts to ensure that the building of new schools under the 9MP adhered to the laid-out specifications. Hishammuddin also said that the ministry was identifying schools with excellent performance to assist them to continue with their stellar achievements and raised the standards of the country's education system.
**** Please forgive me if I sound pessimistic, but whenever I hear farsighted ideas emanating from the Education Ministry, the proverb "there's many a slip between the cup and the lip" comes to mind almost reflexly.
It's all well to concentrate on 3 or even 30 aspects. The important thing is the final product. What is the point of drawing up all kinds of guidelines, dos and don'ts, if at the crucial juncture the authorities give in to petty politics and racial considerations while simultaneously spouting nationalistic sweet-nothings?
They should keep in mind the lessons learnt after the school computer labs fiasco, when some bangsa dan negara types in the government selected mostly Malay contractors who frankly screwed the whole thing up pretty well.
By all means take some Malay contractors, especially the more reliable and experienced ones instead of those out to make a fast buck by prostituting their bumiputra status and subcontracting it over and over again, until the only result we can expect is substandard construction. There can be no pride for the Malay race if in perpetuity they are given 100% of the contracts and they keep muffing it every time.
The first aspect was that the schools' sites must be suitable to avoid problems like landslide, he said. "Secondly, we must ensure that the areas have basic amenities including roads, water and electricity," he added. The third aspect involved planning to avoid building under-enrolled schools.
As such, the Education Ministry would put in efforts to ensure that the building of new schools under the 9MP adhered to the laid-out specifications. Hishammuddin also said that the ministry was identifying schools with excellent performance to assist them to continue with their stellar achievements and raised the standards of the country's education system.
**** Please forgive me if I sound pessimistic, but whenever I hear farsighted ideas emanating from the Education Ministry, the proverb "there's many a slip between the cup and the lip" comes to mind almost reflexly.
It's all well to concentrate on 3 or even 30 aspects. The important thing is the final product. What is the point of drawing up all kinds of guidelines, dos and don'ts, if at the crucial juncture the authorities give in to petty politics and racial considerations while simultaneously spouting nationalistic sweet-nothings?
They should keep in mind the lessons learnt after the school computer labs fiasco, when some bangsa dan negara types in the government selected mostly Malay contractors who frankly screwed the whole thing up pretty well.
By all means take some Malay contractors, especially the more reliable and experienced ones instead of those out to make a fast buck by prostituting their bumiputra status and subcontracting it over and over again, until the only result we can expect is substandard construction. There can be no pride for the Malay race if in perpetuity they are given 100% of the contracts and they keep muffing it every time.
posted by The Malaysian. at 7/02/2006 05:50:00 PM
2 Comments:
A good example is a primary school in Taman Desa here in KL (can't remember the name). It opened in early 2005 (if memory serves me correctly), but had to be shut down a few months later due to structural integrity problems. As far as I know, the school remains unoccupied until today.
I don't remember who the contractor was, but I don't believe they've been taken to task in delivering a sub-standard structure - what a sheer waste of taxpayers $$!!!
Walski, I think what you've described here probably occurs all over the country, but due to public apathy such things are not brought to light.
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