The Ministry of Education has completed 90 percent or 452 of the 534 projects to repair dilapidated schools nationwide this year.

Education Minister Maszlee Malik (photo) said the percentage is expected to rise further by year’s end.

“We are focusing on dilapidated schools so that all teachers and students will have access to not only quality education but also to conducive school infrastructure and environment. That is our hope.

“The schools are not only located in Sabah and Sarawak, but also in the peninsula,” he said when appearing as a guest on a talk show on TV1 last night.

The minister said priority was given to dilapidated schools declared unsafe by the Public Works Department.

During the tabling of the Budget 2020 last October, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng announced an allocation of RM783 million to repair dilapidated schools nationwide. 

Meanwhile, Maszlee said Pendidikan Untuk Semua (education for all) has been the ministry’s basic principle to ensure that the people, regardless of race and religion, have access to quality education.

“We don’t want certain people to be left out or marginalised just because they are poor or have certain disabilities. 

"That is why we are trying to provide better access to education to all students with special needs or disabilities.

“Then, of course, we want to ensure that no students will be left behind, including those who have no proper documents,” he said.

Maszlee said as a result of the launch of the zero reject policy this year, a total of 4,369 students had returned to school and no longer left behind.

Apart from Person with Disability (OKU)-friendly access at schools, an OKU inclusive policy had also been launched at the International Islamic University Malaysia last September as an initiative to turn public and private universities in Malaysia into more OKU-friendly institutions.

So far, he said 10,200 classrooms had been made available nationwide to cater for 88,419 students with special needs registered at government schools.

- Bernama