ARAU: The Education Ministry has clarified that there is no delay in the upgrading works of dilapidated schools as they are being done according to schedule, as fixed by the government.
Its minister, Fadhlina Sidek, stressed that the government is committed to provide the best education access for children as the upgrading of dilapidated schools are being carried out continuously.
"All the projects are within the timeframe that has been set by the Works Department, thus there is no such issue as it being monitored closely. We have a dashboard to monitor these dilapidated schools.
"We will make sure they are completed according to the timeframe we have set," she said in response to Umno Supreme Council member Datuk Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi, who has called on the ministry to immediately resolve the issue of dilapidated schools by cutting all red tape.
Fuad, who is also a former education deputy minister, said this in a Facebook post on 14 dilapidated schools in Johor which have received allocation for upgrading works since 2021 but have yet to carry them out.
He also urged the ministry to review its delivery system to ensure all allocations approved by the government meet their objectives.
Fadhlina said until March, upgrading works for 694 dilapidated schools under the ministry have been completed while another 216 projects are in the pre-construction stage.
"More than 600 schools have been completed from a total of over 1,000 schools, which means we still have about 300 more schools yet to be completed.
"We are consistently improving the process because after the unity government was formed, we have made resolving the issue of dilapidated schools a top priority.
"We are expediting the process with the cooperation of other agencies and inshaa Allah, we will complete the projects," she told reporters after attending the proclamation ceremony of SMK Arau as SMK Syed Hussein by the Regent of Perlis Tuanku Syed Faizuddin Putra Jamalullail.
Raja Puan Muda of Perlis, Tuanku Dr Hajah Lailatul Shahreen Akashah Khalil also graced the ceremony.
Also present was Perlis Menteri Besar Mohd Shukri Ramli.