Sabah expects near 1,000 teaching vacancies next year

KOTA KINABALU: More than 2,284 peninsula teachers who are presently based in Sabah have applied for transfer to their home state as at Oct 1.

State Education director Datuk Jame Alip said of the number, more than 1,000 would leave Sabah by next year, leaving a glaring vacancy that could hopefully be filled by local graduates who are currently jobless.

"Comparably, only 394 Sabah teachers who are based in the peninsula have applied to return," he told reporters after launching the state-level '90:10 Data Collection Initiative' at Wisma Pendidikan, Likas near here today.

According to him, the department was collecting data on unemployed graduates, "who would be offered jobs in the teaching profession if they are interested".

The selected candidates would be required to undergo a one-year course in Education.

Jame said the initiative was also to ensure within the next three years that 90% of the teachers in Sabah are locals.

Aspiring local graduates queue up to apply as teachers at KK Education Centre

The department, he said, was also targeting to ensure that 17.9% or 2,621 teachers in secondary schools and 9.8% or 2,589 in primary schools in Sabah are locals.

Meanwhile, Jame said Sabah was also in critical need of Islamic Education teachers.

"We have 11 religious schools but not all the students became an 'ustaz' or 'ustazah', hence why we do not have enough of our own to teach the subject," he said.

He said Sabah was also experiencing shortage of science teachers and school counselors.

"We require more than 200 science teachers and counselors," he said. – Bernama