Rabu, Februari 22, 2012

“I WANTED TO BE A TEACHER WHEN I GROW UP, BUT I HAVE TO QUIT MY STUDY BECAUSE OF THE DISTANCE TO THE SCHOOL AND OF THE DIRE CIRCUMSTANCES OF MY FAMILY,”

Illiteracy pervades in distant Ulu Paitan

image LONGING FOR PROPER EDUCATION: The children of Ulu Paitan.

SANDAKAN Feb 22, 2012: The desire to bring his family out of the vicious circle of poverty burns within Maslin Imporat but the 18-year-old faces a formidable task and has set himself an impossible mission to achieve, for the simple reason that he is an illiterate.

He has never attended school because of the school’s distance from his house.

“I was unable to attend school as it was built far from my village and it is not equipped with hostel facilities,” Maslin said, claiming that his 17-year old sister also had to face with the same dilemma.

image For Rickson Dunsul, 11, living far away from the school had caused him to lose interest in education.

“I wanted to be a teacher when I grow up, but I have to quit my study because of the distance to the school and of the dire circumstances of my family,” said the boy who conversed with difficulty in Bahasa Malaysia.

Maslin and his sister as well as Rickson are among 300 illiterate children living in distant Ulu Paitan who were unable to reap the benefit of formal education provided by the government.

Beluran MP Datuk Ronald Kiandeev insisted that the government has never neglected education for the poor rural children.

“If the relevant department does not identify the problem immediately, it will hinder the government’s effort to provide formal education to the people,” he said when attending the Majlis Mesra Rakyat at Kampung Matanggal Baru in Ulu Paitan recently.

Kiandee, who is also deputy speaker of the Dewan Rakyat, stressed that the Education Ministry must act fast to address and resolve the schooling difficulties faced by the children of the villages of Kaiboton, Matanggal Baru, Kinadaan and Tongkud in Ulu Paitan.

“Most of the villagers are illiterate and this scourge may be passed down to the younger family members if there is no resolve to address the problem.

“One of the best ways to overcome this problem is to build a hostel near the school to accommodate the pupils,” he said, adding that the only road leading to Ulu Paitan is only accessible by four-wheel-drive vehicles and even then the journey to the nearest school takes more than an hour.

Kiandee suggested the best approach to be taken by the ministry would be to build a school within the area to cater for the education needs of the children of the four villages.

As a short-term measure, he suggested  building  hostels   at  SK Binsulung and SK Sungai-Sungai to accommodate pupils who live far from those two schools.

Kiandee urged for the issue to be taken seriously by the Education Department to eradicate illiteracy among the far flung rural community in order to provide them with a decent chance to rid themselves of poverty.

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image Maslin Imporat, now 18, said he had never been to school because he lives very far away. As a result he could not read nor write.

“Right now I help out my parents at the family farm,” he said. And his 17-year-old sister is also illiterate.

Eleven-year-old Rickson Dunsul said he had no interest in going to school because it was located too far away from his home.

“My ambition is to become a teacher but because of the situation we are in, I have never forced my parents to send me to school,” he said.

And 18-year-old mother Normi Robinson said she married two years ago and she, too, had never been to school.

But she was determined to make sure her own children would have the chance of a formal education.

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HOW CAN WE HELP THEM?

19 ulasan:

  1. Free education for poverty ridden children should be a good start to prevent illiteracy rates, it will be good to have a school near their village so they won't have to travel far to school daily or try to equip schools with hostels for those who stayed far away.

    BalasPadam
    Balasan
    1. Sokong pendidikan percuma untuk sekolah rendah dan menengah supaya setiap rakyat akan mendapat pendidikan tidak kira kaya ataupun miskin.

      Padam
  2. Education is really important to bring a family out from the poverty cycle, without education it is difficult for us to develop quickly. Hopefully the ministry of education will take action to ensure that the illiteracy rates will be reduced.

    BalasPadam
    Balasan
    1. Pendidikan adalah kunci kejayaan. Harap kerajaan kita boleh membantu mengurangkan kadar buta huruf dalam negeri Sabah.

      Padam
  3. Pengangkutan perlu disediakan bagi pelajar2 yang jauh di pedalaman.

    BalasPadam
    Balasan
    1. Perkhidmatan bas sekolah untuk mengambil pelajar yang tinggal jauh dari sekolah pun bagus juga.

      Padam
    2. cadangan bina sekolah berdekatan juga boleh dipertimbangkan jika sesuai.

      Padam
  4. pendidikan amat penting, kerajaan kena membantu penduduk bagi memastikan mereka semua mendapat pendidikan.

    BalasPadam
    Balasan
    1. kegagalan kerajaan memberikan pendidikan kepada rakyat walaupun dalam kelompok yang kecil, boleh menjadi kerugian yang besar kepada negara..

      Padam
    2. pendidikan dapat membantu anak-anak muda untuk mempunyai masa depan yang lebih baik.

      Padam
  5. so the main problem is, the distance of the school.. so hopefully the government will look this matter and find the solution.. for me, better provide them with free hostel..

    BalasPadam
    Balasan
    1. cadangan yang baik utuk menyediakan kemudahan asrama kepada pelajar-pelajar tersebut.

      Padam
  6. Pendidik dikawasan pendalaman perlu diambil perhatian. Mereka juga mahukan perubahan.

    BalasPadam
  7. If the government couldn't provide them a school bus service to fetch, then its better to provide them with free hostel.

    BalasPadam
  8. Education is one of the way to eradicate poverty in a family. Government must take this matter seriously to provide them a way to get them educated. For now, the distance is the problem. I hope the government will do all they can to help this kids as children are the hope of the country's future

    BalasPadam
  9. harap jalan penyelesaian terbaik akan ditemui..pendidikan amat penting kpada anak-anak agar mereka mempunyai masa depan yang baik.

    BalasPadam
  10. I think the best solution is to build a hostel for the students.

    BalasPadam
  11. The person in-charge to this matter should solve the issue, as soon as possible.

    BalasPadam
  12. Education is one of the basic, needed to have a better future. Better solve the problem before we end up with uneducated locals.

    BalasPadam