LET IT BEGIN: Jabu (second left), flanked from the left by Rosey, Marcus, Abdillah and Lihan, officiating at the opening ceremony of Education Management Conference 2013.

MIRI: Teachers are the front-liners in producing the manpower to propel Sarawak towards achieving Vision 2020, and their leadership is crucial in meeting the nation’s goal of becoming a competitive nation.

It is also appropriate to note that the state’s education infrastructure has experienced a quantum leap, from barely 10 secondary schools to 185 throughout the state in the past 50 years of independence, though much more needs to be done.

This was said by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu Numpang when representing Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud to officiate at the opening ceremony of the Education Management Conference 2013 at Mega Hotel here yesterday.

Held in conjunction with Sarawak Secondary School Principals Association’s 48th annual general meeting, the conference, from yesterday till tomorrow themed ‘High Performance Leadership Generates Quality Education’, is attended by 192 school heads.

“We now have 1,265 primary schools and over 41,000 teachers, a far cry from my days as a student and the past when Dr Mahathir Mohamad as education minister had to crawl through a wooden tunnel to get inside a slanted building called a school,” he said.

Jabu, who is also Minister of Rural Development, said the way school heads lead will determine students’ performance though parents also play an equally important part.

“Teachers work hard to ensure students perform but this discipline must be matched by collaboration of equally disciplined parents,” he said.

He dwelled at length on the journey and transformation of education in the past five decades of independence,
saying government efforts in establishing various educational and skills training institutions have unleashed the true potential of Sarawakians, particularly from rural longhouses and villages.

“Educating the people by advising them is the most unpopular thing to do for a politician as people have run down Jabu (himself) for advising them against excessive cockfighting, drinking and gambling but it is the right thing to do and we are seeing results now,” he said.

The deputy chief minister urged the teaching fraternity to reach out to parents as partners in making schools achieve better results.

Earlier on, State Education director Abdillah Adam said the convention is a platform for principals and headmasters to get feedback and exchange ideas on bringing their schools to greater heights in performance.

Meanwhile, the association’s chairman Marcus Hugo Matu Lejau said high performance is one of the main thrusts of the national education transformation plan and the challenge is to translate the plan into achievements.

At the same time, he called upon the relevant authorities to address the lack of infrastructure and facilities in rural schools, while urging the state government to provide funds for activities of school heads, teachers and students.

Also present at the function were Assistant Minister of Early Childhood Education and Family Development Rosey Yunus, Miri Resident Antonio Kahti Galis, Telang Usan assemblyman Dennis Ngau, senator Lihan Jok, Miri mayor Lawrence Lai and local dignitaries.

(Source: Borneo Post Online, 03 July 2013)