By Olivia Miwil - September 26, 2020 @ 9:00am
NABAWAN: Sekolah Menengah Kebang-saan (SMK) Nabawan is doing its best to accommodate the needs of its students while maintaining the standard operating procedures (SOPs) imposed by the Education Ministry to prevent the Covid-19 infection.
Its principal Haliman Norlian said many students wanted to stay at the school hostel as most live far away, some even having to walk at least five hours just to get to school.
"The school is doing all it can to accommodate all students here including making use of other rooms for them to stay," he said.
Haliman was speaking to reporters after a meet and greet session with Senior Education Minister Dr Radzi Jidin on Thursday.
Also present was Sabah Education director Dr Mistirine Radin.The new SOPs require adequate spacing among students in any dormitories to minimise the risk of infection within the premises.
Such a procedure leads to only half of the applicants allowed to stay in the dormitories while the rest have to travel to school.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Haliman added the school hostel used to have a capacity of 300 with more than 200 students opting for the accommodation.
"As those students are sleeping on mattresses without beds, therefore each room can only fit seven people.
"But, if there are double decker beds , the school can accommodate up to 14 people in a room," he said, adding they were doing their best to ensure all students stay in the hostel.
He explained the state education department had given them 18 sets of beds.
Apart from that, the school management and parent-teacher association had also taken initiatives to build themselves 15 sets of double decker beds for the students.
Earlier, Radzi announced an RM150,000 fund for 100 sets of double decker beds for the hostel and another RM200,000 for school maintenance works.
To upgrade the facilities, the school will be using the funds to fix their toilets, 80 per cent of which are broken, the shower rooms, electrical wiring and other miscellaneous issues.
SMK Nabawan is the 105th school Radzi has visited in the country after the Movement Control Order was relaxed.
"I can see our high-spirited children are keen to study despite facing so many difficulties," he said.
Citing his visits at a rural hostel at Sekolah Kebangsaan Biah Batu 65 in Beaufort recently, he said the youngest student staying at the dormitory was only seven years-old.
He said some students at the primary school were travelling up to 30 kilometres on motorcycles to go to school everyday.
There were also pupils who had to walk for hours or take trains to commute to school everyday.
"When I wanted to go to boarding school at the age of 13, my father thought I was too young to do so and only allowed me to stay at the hostel when I was in Form 4.
"During my schooling years, I never travelled far, even 7 kilometres was considered quite a distance," he said.
Radzi said such difficulties in Sabah were not just tales of a handful of individuals but were of many.
"As a responsible government, we are doing all we can to assist them at school, and after they leave school we help them to further their studies.
"But such assistance does not necessarily reach everyone," he said, adding there were also socioeconomic factors that prevented the students from pursuing their studies.
During his working visits to the state, he concluded that issues in Sabah schools usually revolved around failures in optimising the capacity and making full use of facilities such as the laboratories, fixing minor technical aspects and basic access to water, among others.
SMK Bandaraya in Kota Kinabalu, which was one of the earliest schools he visited in Sabah, saw Radzi solving a six-year issue faced by the school within two months.
The ministry is also expected to have a new building for SMK Langkon in Kota Marudu by year end. The secondary school has been sharing the same building with SK Langkon for many years.
As for SK Sangkabok in Kuala Penyu, the school has been experiencing water shortage and has been forced to rely on rainwater.
Radzi urged the relevant authorities, particularly district education officers to keep tabs on problems at schools and find immediate solutions to help students study in a conducive environment.
He added the ministry is committed to planning the best to improve the education system."It is very important to have an elected representative that is in line with the Federal government.
"Therefore we need collaborations from all levels to ensure there are no hiccups in between.
"When things are not being done due to such obstacles (when the state government is not in line with the federal), the minister will be the one who is being questioned by the people," he said, adding the teaching community has an important role in assisting the Federal government.
Apart from SMK Nabawan, he also visited SK Kampung Bahagia, SK Tetagas and had a friendly football match with the community at Nabawan Sports Complex.
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