Sarawak to incorporate agreed education autonomy into regulations

KUCHING, May 9 — The Sarawak’s Ministry of Education, Innovation, and Talent Development (MEITD) is looking to incorporate what has been agreed on education autonomy into regulations and statutes.

Sarawak Deputy Education, Innovation and Talent Development Minister, Datuk Dr Annuar Rapaee said this is important so that there will be adherence and continuity to what has been agreed.

“As we are aware before this, when there is a change of minister or government there will be a change in policy, we don’t want this to happen.

“Hence, we are studying if we can incorporate this in the form of regulations or amendments. We also understand that there are things that are beyond the purview of MEITD, therefore we will also bring these matters to higher authority for consideration,” he said.

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He said this in his reply to a question from Datuk Ding Kuong Hiing (GPS-Meradong) who wanted to know the latest status on the devolution of education autonomy to Sarawak during a question and answer session at the state assembly sitting today.

Meanwhile, Dr Annuar said the Sarawak government has presented a comprehensive list of demands to the Federal government as part of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) negotiation, aiming for the devolution of power in education.

He said progress has been achieved in the negotiations including delegation of authority to the state education director to approve school development projects funded by the Sarawak government or other parties.

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“In other words, the approval does not have to go through the Federal government anymore, this will improve the process and facilitate the implementation of the projects. In the past, several projects slowed down due to bureaucracy,” he added. — Bernama